The Battered Soldier
by russianbarrista
Summary: Imagine if there was another world outside of the outer world, where a war that has lasted over 200 years has been waging, with guns, planes, ships, and some advanced technology. Now what if that world took slaves from the world we see in Claymore and turn them into soldiers? What if one day one of these soldiers came back and reunited with Clare, the only family he has left.
1. Crash Landing

**_Disclaimer:_ I do not own Claymore**

**_Authors Note:_**_This is my first stroy, __I've__ never written anything like this before, and I know that Claymore is kinda dead, so if you read this please review it._

_**Description:**__Imagine if there was another world outside of the outer world, where a war that has lasted over 200 years has been waging, with guns, planes, ships, and some advanced technology. Now what if they took slaves from the world we see in Claymore and turn them into soldiers? What if one day one of these soldiers came back and reunited with Clare, the only family he has left. (also I came back and fixed the writing style)_

All he could hear was the wind, the cold wind blowing into his ears as he was being carried at what seemed to be a million miles an hour. He held onto Clare tightly as they fled far away from Ophelia.

At last they came to a stop, Raki knew exactly what was going to happen next, he had replayed it thousands and thousands of times over in his head. No matter how long ago it was he still remembered every vivid detail of that fateful day. He remembered how Clares lips felt against his and he remembered the pain he felt as he said his final goodbye…That had all been 4 years ago... He closed his eyes and could feel a soft hand touching his shoulder, it had to be Clares, and in that one singular moment Raki had peace.

Raki snapped out of his trance to the sound of screaming, explosions and gunfire. He opened his eyes and looking down at him was his sergeant, who was was shaking him awake and pulling him off the ground.

"Get up corporal! We have a war to fight, and there is no sleeping on the job!"

Raki looked around dazed and confused all around him he saw fire, he saw the bodies of both teenage boys and men all around him. It had all been a dream...

Raki had been knocked out by a mortar shell explosion and in the few moments of peaceful sleep he dreamt about the one person he was fighting for.

He looked around, he saw a 19 year old boy blown in half, screaming out for his mother, desperately trying to hold what was left of his body together.

Raki looked around again, he saw one of his comrades dragging the lifeless corpse of his friend, screaming for a medic, refusing to believe that his friend was dead.

Raki wanted to scream, he wanted to cry, every ounce of humanity left in him wanted to yell for help, to release him from this hell… But whatever humanity Raki had left at that point was quickly put aside as he saw the enemy rushing towards him with a bayonet. Raki quickly sidestepped and dodged the bayonet.

He then proceeded to lift his own weapon and take aim at the young man who had just tried to kill him. Without hesitation Raki pulled the trigger… He felt no remorse, all he had for his enemy was hate. The old Raki was missing, he had been torn apart and rebuilt as a monster, but even then, he was still just a grunt, a pawn in this war that he was fighting.

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Clare

_**1 year later**_

Clare was walking back to the cave she and her band of fellow renegades had take refuge in.

They were in the northern lands, 5 long years after the battle with Isley's army.

Clare had made a habit every day after training to search all around the north for the person she had lost, and once again tonight, just like every other night, she had found nothing.

Roughly a month ago she did find something however. She found the cell where the slavers were keeping Raki, she knew it was his cell due to the drawing of the twin goddesses Teresa and Clare engraved into the wall. In that same cell however she found what looked to be like a circular scar on the ground, almost as if a great deal of energy had gone off within the cell and left a permanent marking on the ground. Clare was perplexed by this, but knowing that Raki was once nearby gave her hope.

But tonight she found nothing once again. As she entered the cave she was immediately greeted by Miria.

Miria gave Clare a friendly smile, she did this every time Clare came back from her search, she was always trying to cheer her comrade up.

"Don't worry Clare, you will find him eventually." Clare had heard these words many times before, so much so that they seem to mean nothing anymore.

"It has been five years, How come I haven't found him yet? Where could he be?" She choked out.

Clare rarely let her comrades see her get worked up, but whenever she came back from her searches, she could rarely hold back her emotions.

Helen decided to speak up, Helen was notorious for trying get on her friends nerves, it was how she entertained herself. "I think you should give up Clare, there is no reason to keep trying, it's been five years! Your little boy toy has probably been dead for a long time!" she said.

Clare's eyes widened as reached for her claymore, "Don't you dare talk about him like that!" she barked.

"What's wrong Clare? You really want him to do you that badly? Well you should be fine so long as you are ok with some necrophilia!"

Clare immediately drew her claymore.

"ENOUGH!" shouted Miria, "Clare you need to calm down, and Helen you need to stop trying to get on Clares nerves." said Miria.

"Jeez I was just messing with her, no need to get all serious" chided Helen.

All was quiet once again until Yuma, the youngest and the meekest, walked in from outside and said "Hey guys, you might want to see this!"

Everyone hurried outside and looked toward the sky, at what appeared to be a meteor. The meteor was covered in fire and after watching it come closer and closer the claymores became more and more amazed, the supposed meteor was heading on a course very close to their location.

Finally it crashed down into the dense forest surrounding the mountain their cave was located in. The seven warriors all glanced at each other, Miria then said, "That can't be good. Lets go check it out" The warriors all moved out to see what had fallen from the sky.

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Raki

Raki opened his eyes, "_Where am I?"_ he thought, "_What happened" _

Raki was inside of a small cage made of glass and metal...No…"_Not a cage"_ he thought, "_A pod" _he remembered, as the door to his "pod" opened up.

As suddenly as the door opened he fell out of his pod. Raki stood up and winced in pain, he looked down and saw that he was bleeding out of his left thigh.

"_How did that happen?"_ he thought, then suddenly the memories all came back in small flashes.

A firefight, guns going off, fire, and then falling. Raki remembered some of what happened, he was inside of a ship, he fought his way out of a cell and ran to… "_what was it again?" _he pondered for a moment… "_an escape pod" _ Raki escaped a prison cell, fought his way to an escape pod, and then plummeted quickly towards his home world…

"_Why was I in a prison cell?" _he thought. At that moment his instincts kicked in, he didn't know why but he knew that he had to move, and FAST. Raki quickly grabbed his backpack and duffel bag, and then he sprinted off into the distance, limping a little due to his injured leg.

After about a minute of running he heard voices coming from where he had once been, now he REALLY needed to pick up the pace. He didn't want to have to get into another fight.

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Clare

Clare didn't really know what she was looking at, the thing that fell from the sky definitely wasn't a meteor, it looked… man made. It looked strange, it was shaped like an arrowhead pointing downwards, on the front a piece of the… "_Cage"_ she thought, "_yes that had to be it_" the front piece of the "cage" was lifted up and exposing the interior.

Inside there was a chair along with a bar just above it, likely to hold whoever or whatever was inside in place.

"_What is this thing?"_ she thought.

Just then Deneve spoke up "Hey, look at this" she pointed to a trail of blood leading away from the "cage".

The warriors all gathered quickly and then soon began running and following the trail.

After about two minutes, they saw the figure of a man running awkwardly away, he clearly had an injured leg.

"_Had this man come out of the cage" C_lare thought.

At that moment Miria ran out into the open and called out to the man. "Hey you! Stop right now!" She demanded.

The man turned around. He was wearing strange armor. It seemed to not be metallic at all, if anything it looked like it could be broken easily (Imagine plastic) but it had scratches on it, clearly showing that it had taken a beating.

His armor plating was placed over a skin tight black suit. The armor covered almost every part of his body, but it left small spots open to allow movement.

However his helmet was the strangest of all. It wrapped around his head and on the front there was a visor made of glass. It was large enough to show the eyes and nose if the visor were to be removed. The front of the mask was also narrower than the back. Having a helmet that covered not only the entire head but the face as well was a rarity. and a very strange occurrence to say the least.

Clare was truly perplexed by his armor. Her mind was racing at a million miles an hour, until the man spoke up.

It had only been a few seconds after Miria had demanded that the man stop. "STAY BACK" he warned as he pulled out what seemed to be a small piece of metal shaped like an L.

Miria was not deterred, she readied her own weapon and said "Stop running, you will do as I say or I will kill you myself!".

The strange man did not flinch but instead the "Piece of metal" he was holding let out a loud bang, and out the front of it there was a small explosion.

Miria Cried out as everyone looked at her they noticed that her leg was bleeding. "Consider that a warning" he yelled out. "It shouldn't be too hard for you to heal" He yelled out over his shoulder as he began running again.

The warriors all circled around Miria, all except for Clare, who was already standing off to the side out of sight, "_That voice" _there was something oddly disturbing about his voice.

Clare looked at her comrade, then back at the man. Clare became enraged, NO ONE was going to get away with hurting the people she cared about. She quickly ran after the man and caught up to him at the edge of a cliff.

The man pointed his "Piece of metal" at her head but then as his arm tensed up to pull the trigger, he stopped… "No…" he said as he moved his finger away from the trigger. "You harmed my comrade! And that will be your last mistake!" said Clare as she kicked the man in the stomach and then off the cliff…

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Raki

"_Oh great here I am again falling down from yet another high place, I seem to have a knack for this kind of thing don't I? I can't believe Clare just kicked me off a cliff!" _He thought, he then did a double take in his mind, "_Wait… Clare just kicked me off a cliff" "CLARE just kicked me off a cliff!" _

Admittedly Raki had never been happier to be kicked off a cliff...

finally he was reunited with the person he stayed alive for after all these years! His battle was finally over! He could have peace! All he needed to do was talk to Cla-

(_WACK)_

Raki hit the ground hard, his helmet rolled off of his head and stopped just a few feet to his side.

He attempted to reach for it, but he was stuck. Finally realizing what just happened, he began to panic.

Raki just shot at Claire's friend and Clare had just tried to kill him. But that was all just a misunderstanding, it could be sorted out… No… what Raki was worried about was that he was stuck, no he wasn't trapped under anything, nor had the fall paralyzed him… He felt a warm liquid on his stomach…

He looked up and saw that a sword had been thrown into his stomach, impaling him and holding him in place. Upon further examination he saw the emblem on the sword… "_Clares emblem" _he thought. He heard a light thud in front of him, he lifted his head and looked in the direction of his feet, and there he saw her, a silver eyed woman approaching him, with the intent to kill. Had she not remembered who he was? Did she forget about him? Was everything he fought for just a lie? His vision began to blur as she got closer, eventually he couldn't see anything, and he uttered out his last word… "Clare"


	2. The Time we lost

**_Disclaimer:_ I do not own Claymore**

Clare

Clare approached the man, she pulled her sword out of his stomach, when she threw it into his body it managed to miss the mans vital organs.

As she looked down at the man she had impaled she gasped in shock.

This man who she had just tried to kill was just a 16 year old boy, he looked so familiar, his face, his voice, the scar on his eyebrow…

"No…" she choked on her own words as the reality of what she had done finally dawned on her.

She cried as she called out his name. "RAKI" she cried.

"Clare…" she faintly heard him say.

She scooped up her long lost companion in her arms.

She needed to get him medical attention fast! But how? She was so far away from her cave that she would have needed to use her yoma powers to get back, normally she could do it easily, but she didn't think Raki's body could survive the shock of being carried that fast.

It began to snow, Clare knew Raki wouldn't survive long in the cold.

She needed to act quickly, he was going to bleed out if she didn't hurry.

She looked around, she recognized the area, she knew that there was a very small cave nearby with a hidden stash of supplies.

Holding tightly onto Raki's limp body, she began to run at a human pace.

She prayed to god that it wasn't too late, that she hadn't killed him.

_"HE CAN'T DIE! NOT NOW! NOT AFTER ALL THIS"_ She reached the cave. Immediately she set Raki's body down on the ground. She ran over to the stash of supplies and grabbed some bandages to wrap his wounds in and some thread to give him stitches with. "YOUR NOT GONNA DIE" ordered clare. "I'M NOT GOING TO LET YOU DIE!".

Clare struggled for a bit, but finally figured out how to get Raki's strange armor off, now she could get to work.

Clare finished stitching and wrapping Raki, It wouldn't last for very long but it would be enough to hold Raki until Helen, the team's designated medic, could give him proper treatment.

Helen could sew better than most humans and for some reason knew a lot about human health and anatomy, especially that of a man.

Clare sat down, she looked down at Raki, at last now that he was safe she could finally relax and gather her thoughts.

She stared at Raki's face, he looked so much older now, "_Had it really been five years? After all this time I spent thinking about what I was going to do when I finally found Raki, the last thing I EVER thought I was going to do was stab him" _she thought to herself.

Raki, looked so much more mature than he did back then, his face was more defined. He also had a few new scars on him, down the left side of his head he had a scar that ran almost all the way down his face, it was very close to his eye. The cut was looked like hit had been left by a small knife. She looked down at his body, immediately she could tell he was much stronger than before.

But then something caught her eye. He had a large gash across his chest, her eyes moved down to his abdomen, she noticed more scars, small holes that looked like something had gone through, just like the one she sewed up on his thigh. The strange scars did not look like those left by arrows, but something far more dangerous. "Oh Raki, what happened to you?" her voice broke. She gently put her hand on his cheek; he was ice cold.

She lifted him up, careful not to break the stitches, and held him tightly from behind.

Raki began to stir, Raki began muttering something. Clare tried to listen to what he was saying, but it all sounded confusing, like mumbling.

Suddenly his breathing became very heavy "No...no...No!...NO,NO!" She tightened her grip on him "Raki" she said trying to calm him down. She felt his heart rate picking up "It wasn't supposed to be like this! Why are we all dying!" Clare felt a lump form in her throat. "Raki" she said once more "_What happened to you?" _she thought.

She couldn't take it anymore, she tried to lightly shake him awake. "Raki" she said it a bit louder this time, suddenly Raki calmed down… and his breathing returned to normal.

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Raki

Raki felt his boots sticking to the mud he was stepping in.

He had his gun in his hand and he was walking with his body lowered.

Raki stayed with his squad as they and the rest of the company advanced through the battlefield.

Raki had only been stationed on the front line for a year, so he didn't know much about the fighting. Raki did however hear information about the battle itself, from people that had been there far longer than he had, and apparently the battle of Hilford had lasted decades.

Originally there were small defenses, bunkers and trenches on either side of the battlefield, but as the years went on the defenses became greater and greater, until eventually on both sides there was a seemingly impenetrable wall defending each side of the battlefield.

The battle raged on for decades, throwing men against the other sides wall in a futile attempt of survival, each side knowing that if they stopped for even a day, then they would be overrun.

Raki knew it was a suicide mission, but every time he went over he always came back, he was a survivor.

As his company advanced all was quiet. "_It's been two years since I've seen her. I need to keep my promise, I need to survive this so I can come back and find her._" Raki thought in his head. "_This is all for her, I have to keep living for h-_"

ZIPP

a bullet zipped just past Raki's head.

Suddenly all hell broke loose. All around him he heard screaming and machine gun fire.

Raki quickly ran for cover. He closed his eyes and dived into a bomb crater, when he opened them up he was confronted with the body of a 12 year old boy, Raki screamed and jumped at the sight of the body. The boys body looked like it had been there for a couple of days.

Raki quickly ran out of the bomb crater and took cover behind a rock, when all of a sudden he heard a whistling noises coming from the sky "_That can only be one thing"_ he thought.

"ARTILLERY" another soldier screamed

"GET DOWN" cried Raki but it was too late.

The artillery had struck hard and fast, it landed in a mass of soldiers and it blew them to bits.

Raki was deafened by the sound, he was surrounded by smoke, when he looked up he was horrified at what he saw. The artillery had blown bits of people's bodies into the sky, so much so that the sky began to turn red.

Raki stood still as it came down, all around him the blood of his comrades and the blood of his enemies rained from the sky.

This was true despair, nothing that ever happened in his life could ever compare to what he saw that day. Never in Raki's life had he ever felt so much anguish and sorrow. He looked up and saw that it was raining blood.

Raki's entire body was now stained red. Raki screamed louder than ever before "NO!... NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO NO!"

He fell to his knees, put his head to the ground and slammed his fists down.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this! How could we all die like this? What is it all for? WHY!"

"RAKI" he heard a voice call out.

He looked around, who could have said it? And how did he hear it? All he heard in his ears was ringing.

"RAKI" he heard it again, louder this time

"RAKI!"

Raki's eyes shot open, he was no longer on the front line. He was somewhere else… somewhere safe.

Raki felt the warmth of another person behind him as his body was held from behind. He looked down and he saw a pair of pale hands wrapped around his abdomen.

"Shh… it's okay, your safe with me now. Everything is going to be okay"

That voice! It had to be her!

"Clare?" he asked, his eyes beginning to water, he turned around and was face to face with her.

Clare tried to hold back her tears, but couldn't, she smiled "What took you so long?"

Raki tried to answer, but how could he? How could he even begin to explain what had happened to him?

Tears began streaming down his face "I-I… I don't-" his mumbling was quickly silenced as Clare pressed her lips against his.

In that one moment Raki felt all the pain and all the suffering he had experienced over the past five years melt away, every ounce of pain and fear he felt was replaced by love, warmth and comfort.

Raki never wanted this moment to end, he wanted it to last forever.

He wrapped his arms around her in an effort to pull her closer, but as he shifted his weight he felt a sudden sharp pain in his lower abdomen. He was taken off guard and he jolted back off of Clare.

He looked down and saw that he had bandages wrapped around his stomach.

Suddenly the memories came rushing back. He remembered fighting his way out of a prison cell and to an escape pod, and falling into orbit ; he remembered shooting Claire's friend in the leg. "_Did I really do that?" _he thought. He then remembered almost shooting Clare and then her… kicking him off a cliff… and impaling him with her sword.

He put his hand on his wound and looked back up at Clare. Clare's joyful look was replaced with a look of guilt as she turned her head away from him. "_Did she really do that?"_ he thought.

"_It doesn't matter, i'm here now with her and i'm safe."_

"I'm so sorry Raki, I didn't know it was you, I never would have thrown my sword at you, or kicked you had I known." Clare said in a very serious yet apologetic tone.

In an instant she regained her emotionless composure, which Raki remembered all too well. It was clear that she was trying to hide her emotions.

Raki quickly spoke up "No Clare, don't be sorry, its okay. It's not your fault. You didn't know…"

Clare looked back at him, he looked deep into her silver eyes.

Raki then looked down and said "I'm sorry about your friend, I was being foolish, I should have heard what she had to say before I attacked her."

He looked back at Clare; she was still staring at him with those silver eyes.

His voice broke, "Oh, god Clare I've missed you so much!" He wrapped his arms around her. "Every time I thought I was going to die I thought of you and I somehow survived."

Clare's eyes widened, she now wrapped her arms around Raki, she began to show her emotions again.

"You were the thing that kept me alive every time! Every time I was on the verge of death your memory brought me back!" said Raki.

Tears began running down both Raki and Clare's faces.

"When everyone else around me was dying I stayed alive just for you!" Exclaimed Raki.

Clare took a shaky breath in. "Raki… what did they do to you?" she choked out.

"Everything!" he cried.

Raki began sobbing. "They took everything away! Why?! All for nothing! They stripped me and so many other young men of our humanity simply for pieces of the ground!"

Clare closed her eyes. "I don't understand! Who did this? Was it the organization? Where have you been? What were you doing? How did all this happen?"

Raki took a shaky breath in. "How can I begin to explain in to you Clare, I can't even begin to put into words everything that happened to me. The truth is no matter how hard I try to explain it, you will never even begin to understand what I saw."

Raki pulled back off of Clare,

"I don't want to think about this anymore, lets just enjoy the moment we have here. Lets just enjoy the fact that we found each other!"

Clare hesitated, but then nodded her head in agreement.

She put her hand on Raki's cheek and looked him deep in the eyes. "Your so cold…" she said.

In truth Raki hadn't noticed, he had been cold everyday for the past five years, he had slept on the mud in the pouring rain, he rarely had a roof over his head, he forgot what warm felt like.

"Do you want me to warm you up?" Asked Clare.

"You can do that?" asked Raki "Yes, my comrades and I can raise our body temperatures to whatever we wish." said Clare.

Raki paused for a moment "I would like that" he said. Clare wrapped her arms around Raki and pulled him close to her body. Raki could feel warmth radiating off of her, a warmth he hadn't felt in a long time. He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

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Helen

Helen and Deneve searched everywhere for Clare and the man in the woods, but so far found nothing.

Helen walked beside Deneve and decided to let her thoughts go, despite how badly Deneve did NOT want to hear it.

"Did you see that guy Deneve? He was so tall!" Said Helen in an upbeat voice.

"Yea, I did Helen,and I REALLY liked the part where he nearly took Miria's leg off." Said Deneve in her most sarcastic tone. "That's all you ever think about Helen! Just guys! You rarely talk about anything else!" exclaimed Deneve.

Helen looked back at her friend "Yea ok sorry, but I've been out in these god forsaken mountains for FIVE YEARS, and it is pretty hard to not think about that stuff when there is a tall, strong, probably very attractive, space man standing in front of you!"

Deneve looked at Helen and said "Allow me to reiterate HE COULD HAVE KILLED MIRIA."

Helen looked away quickly, disgruntled at her friends lack of imagination.

"Huh?" Helen noticed blood in the snow. "Hey Deneve look what I found" she said as she pointed to the blood on the snow.

Deneve looked over at Helen and noticed a small object behind her.

Deneve walked past Helen and picked up, what appeared to be a small sphere, from Helen's point of view anyway.

Deneve turned around and showed the object in her hand to Helen. "This was the helmet that the man was wearing. Clearly it was knocked off, probably by Clare" said Deneve.

"And these tracks over here look like they belong to her as well." Deneve pointed to imprints in the snow that were below a tree where the newly fallen snow couldn't touch.

"If they had fought, only one would have made it out, and seeing that there is nobody here that can only mean that Clare injured the man and took him somewhere" said Deneve

"Well now we've got something, at least." said Helen "So, if Clare was still hanging around this area with an injured man, where would she take him?" asked Deneve.

"Probably that one cave we hid all those supplies in!" exclaimed Helen.

"Let's head that way then" said Deneve.

A few minutes later Helen and Deneve approached the entrance to the cave. There was clearly someone inside because there was a fire lit.

Deneve entered the cave. "Clare, we've been searching everywhere for you, what happe-" Deneve's voice stopped abruptly as she immediately recognized the man Clare was holding on to.

Helen swaggered in with her hands behind her head. "Oh Clare! I'm glad you made it back in one piece, we looked everywhere but we couldn't find that hottie that ran into the woooddsssss…" Her voice seemed to trail off as she saw the body Clare was holding in her lap.

Something was very off about him, he seemed oddly... familiar. "UMM who the hell is that!?" she asked with her eyes widened.

Deneve had a similar reaction. "That's the boy Clare used to keep around" murmured Deneve.

If Helen's eyes weren't wide before they were now, so much so that her eyes seemed like they were about to fall out of her head.

"THAT…THAT MAN RIGHT THERE! Is the brat!?" Helen seemed confused.

Clare quickly said "Yes, this is Raki. And he won' wake up! he- blah, blah, blah blah…. BLAH BLAH BLAH! Blah? BLAH BLAH!?" Clare's words seemed to fall away as Helen kept looking at the man laying in front of her, she was staring at every small detail of him, admiring everything, from his well kept hair to the scar on his eyebrow.

Inside of Helen's head she was pretty sure she heard a song sounding much like You're the Inspiration, by Chicago.

Deneve looked back at Helen, who was making googly eyes at Raki. "Hey!" she pushed Helen. Helen snapped out of her trance "Did you get all that?" Asked Deneve. "No" admitted Helen.

Deneve quickly said. "You need to give Raki medical attention! Clare helped him out as best she could but you need to get to work right now, Clare's losing him!" Helen looked back at the man "Oh shit" said Helen as she ran to grab her sewing kit and then back to Raki. Immediately she got to work.

**_Authors Note: Hey sorry if this seems a bit rushed, I was trying to get this published before the weekend was over, so I didn't get to spend as much time as I needed to go over grammar and reading flow. It's pretty cool that I got some reviews as fast as I did, I really appreciate the support. This is my first time doing any form of creative writing outside of class. And I really want to know what you guys think. And yes for all you metal heads out there I included "The sky began to turn red" as a reference to Slayer. Anyways, feel free to tell me what you guys like about the story so far and what you might want to see more of, or don't want to see. I'm already working on chapter 3 and I will try to get that released for you guys._**


	3. Service In Hell

**_Disclaimer:_ I do not own Claymore**

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Clare

3 Days Later

After Raki fell asleep in her arms while they were inside the cave, he slowly began fading away. Apparently Raki was not as stable as Clare thought he was.

Helen lectured Clare about the piss poor job she did in her attempt to "stabilize" him. All she did was stop the external bleeding, she didn't do anything about the concussion or the possible infection, If Helen had shown up any later than Raki probably would have died.

Admittedly Clare was thankful for Helen's help, however what she absolutely was NOT thankful for, was how touchy Helen seemed to be with Raki's unconscious body. Clare didn't know why but the thought of Helen being the one to "Heal" Raki left a bad taste in her mouth that she couldn't explain.

After Raki was actually stable, they moved back to the main cave that they were staying in. At first the other warriors were apprehensive about taking Raki in, but after they had the situation explained by Clare, and some private conversations with Helen (For whatever reason), they became a bit more open to helping Raki. Even Miria agreed, which Clare found surprising since she was the one that Raki attacked. Miria stated that Raki could provide the group with much needed information, and whatever weapon he attacked her with could be very useful in their fight against the Organization. So until he woke up and could be questioned by Miria he would be temporarily allowed to stay.

Clare was relieved. If her comrades had thrown him out, she wouldn't have known what to do. She WAS NOT going to leave him, not after everything the two of them had gone through to find each other. But what would she do if she left? Where would she go? "_No I can't think about that. It doesn't matter, I'm here and so is Raki."_ Clare thought.

Clare continued to gaze down at Raki. She had held him in her lap for the past three days and hadn't taken her eyes off of him at all.

Everything about him was a mystery, she wondered where he had been the past five years, why he had fallen from the sky, she looked him up and down, noting every physical change on his body, from the strange scars on his torso to his new trimmed hair. She had many questions but little answers.

_"Raki...what happened to you?" _She said to herself in her head_. _

She thought back to what he said in the other cave. "_Every time I thought I was going to die I thought of you and I somehow survived." _What had he meant by every time he thought he was going to die? Just how much danger was he in? "_You were the thing that kept me alive every time! Every time I was on the verge of death your memory brought me back!" _She remembered him saying.

"_Did he mean that? Did he really keep surviving just for me? For someone who wasn't even fully human?" _she thought. But it was the last thing he said that disturbed her the most. "_They took everything away! Why?! All for nothing! They stripped me and so many other young men of our humanity simply for pieces of the ground!" _What did that mean! Was he literally not a full human, like her? Or was it just a metaphor?

Clare had so much running through her head, but then Raki began to stir. "_He's finally waking up!" _Clare's heart began pounding in her chest.

She didn't know if he was ever going to wake up. She had been so worried about him for the last three days. At last Raki's eyes opened, and he smiled at Clare.

Raki barely had time to say "Hey" before he was crushed by Clare's arms, which had held him tightly against her body. Clare pulled herself away from Raki slightly, still keeping him in her arms.

Clare had so much that she wanted to tell him, but how? She didn't know how to describe how she felt about him.

She gazed into his eyes and he looked back in hers, there faces were only a few inches apart, slowly they both started moving closer. Suddenly Clare pulled away, someone was...slow clapping?

Both Raki and Clare looked in the direction of noise where they saw Helen "Bravo! Bravo!" She said sarcastically, still clapping her hands. Clare's cheeks turned bright red as she noticed all seven warriors in the room watching her. "I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that you forgot we were all in the room?" laughed Helen.

Clare looked really embarrassed now. "Well I can't really blame her, she must be sleep deprived, after all, she practically hasn't blinked in the last three days, she has just been gawking at you." Helen said to Raki.

Raki looked up at Clare, her cheeks were bright red, she looked away from him.

Raki remembered that time in Rabona, where Clare was injured and he didn't leave her side, oh how things have changed.

Cynthia, who had been standing towards the entrance of the cave decided to chime in. "Oh leave her alone Helen, don't act like you haven't been making googly eyes at him ever since he got here."

Helen was taken completely off guard, she looked back at Raki with HER cheeks now turning red. "Whatever, like how am I not supposed to? Look at him! He's so tall! And he looks like a damn bodybuilder! Jeez Clare I thought he was gonna be a little snot nosed brat forever, but it looks like he's taken care of himself." Helen chuckled, completely shameless in her way of speaking about Raki, despite the fact that he was sitting right there.

"Helen!" said Tabatha. "What? I'm not wrong." said Helen. It was Raki's turn to be embarrassed now. "Right… well...uhh... thanks…. I guess" said Raki timidly. "You can thank me after we have our fun" Winked Helen.

"HELEN! Exclaimed Yuma. Helen just laughed. Clare shot a small glare at Helen. She didn't know why but the way Helen was talking to Raki and her talk of "having fun" bothered her.

Raki was visibly uncomfortable. He had just woken up and was already the focus of everybody in the room, and still, nobody knew anything about him other than what Clare told them.

Suddenly Miria spoke up "That's enough. You all can poke and prod at him later but right now we have business to attend to." Miria looked at Raki. "Raki, I apologize for the rude awakening, you must be very confused and disorientated, but now that you are awake I need you to follow me, we have to talk."

Raki looked up at Miria and immediately winced. He remembered shooting her in the leg. "Hey...umm... I'm sorry about… the leg… I didn't kno-" Raki was cut off by Miria. "Don't worry about it, we can talk about that later. For now I want to talk to you outside."

Raki stood up, and Clare got up to follow him. Miria turned back and looked at Clare, "Alone please…" Clare was clearly taken off guard. She hesitated, but then frowned and sat back down.

Raki turned around and shrugged at Clare, pretending not to know why Miria decided to leave her out of the conversation.

A bit after Raki and Miria left the cave, Clare said to herself "Why would she leave me out? If anyone would know how to talk to Raki it would be me." Helen overheard Clare and began laughing. Clare looked at Helen and asked "What's so funny?" Helen looked Clare in the eyes and smiled. "You really are clueless aren't you?" Helen chuckled.

"How's that?" said Clare. Deneve chimed in, "Remember when you told us everything he said to you in the cave the night you found him? Didn't he say he was stripped of his humanity?" Said Deneve. "It sounded like he went through hell, and seeing how much he cares about you and your opinion of him, I doubt he would want to share all that with you. Most likely because he was afraid of what you would think of him." Explained Deneve.

Clare blinked, was that really it? Did Raki really think that anything that happened to him over the past 5 years would change her opinion of him?

Helen spoke up. "Well that's one way of putting it Deneve, I was just gonna say the kid had a massive crush and didn't want Clare to think bad about him."

Clare looked at Helen. "What makes you say that? You've only seen him conscious for about two minutes."

Helen shrugged. "It's not hard to tell, and from what you've told us I think the feelings mutual." Helen Winked at Clare. Clare looked down "It's not like that!" she said. "Hey, if you don't want him I'll take him. I always love a challenge!" Said Helen with a wicked grin.

Clare kept looking down. In truth she had no idea how she felt about Raki, she knew deep down that she felt something for him, something she never felt for anyone else. Clare didn't know how to describe it, she had never experienced anything like it before, so she had no words for it. Logically however she knew that whatever she felt was just an irrational human emotion, an emotion that could never be fulfilled…because a human could never love a monster...

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Raki

"I'm sorry about my comrades, they can be...well...overwhelming." Those were the first words Raki had heard from Miria after he stepped out of the cave.

Raki was still disorientated, just moments ago he had woken up to Clare and six other claymores all watching him like he had risen from the dead, he didn't know any of them other than Clare, but they acted as if they knew him. It was strange indeed.

"My name is Miria, we've met before, I was with Clare when she hunted her first awakened being. Same goes for Deneve and Helen" Raki remembered that hunt, he remembered how Clare linked up with three other claymores, but he didn't remember their faces or names.

When Miria told him this information he accepted it with ease, for whatever reason he found this claymore, a complete stranger, to be very trustworthy, despite the fact that he barely knew her.

Raki and Miria walked about 200 feet, well out of earshot of the other warriors.

Miria turned around, "Raki, I know this might be hard for you, but I need you to be open with me if you want to stay here with Clare and the rest of us. I promise you, whatever you say will stay strictly between us, but I need you to be honest with me and tell me everything that happened to you after you and Clare split up."

Raki stared at Miria, he knew that she was going to ask that question, but it still took him off guard.

At that moment Raki's kind and trusting nature had left him. This claymore, a woman who he had hardly any memory of, wanted him to just give her information about the hell he went through?! "_Who does she think she is?" _Raki caught himself, there it was again, the anger that had been growing over the past five years.

Raki took a deep breath in, and thought carefully about what she said. "_I need you to be open with me if you want to stay here with Clare and the rest of us." _he remembered Miria saying. If he wanted to stay with Clare than he needed to make sure that they knew he wasn't a threat. Raki looked Miria in the eyes and began to tell her everything.

_5 years ago…_

Raki was leaving the city of Hanel when he was captured.

He remembered just a few days ago he had seen a statue of Teresa and Clare, the twin goddesses.

Raki had left Hanel, and just outside of the city he was approached by a large group of men. Their leader asked Raki where his parents were, Raki naive about what was about to happen to him answered honestly.

Immediately he felt something hit the back of his head, and he went out cold.

When he came to, he was being carried on someone's back with his hands bound.

He immediately attempted to escape by trying to squirm out of his captors hands, as soon as he began moving he was thrown to the ground.

"Get up! From here on out you are walking!" ordered his captor. Raki stood up and looked at the man; the guy who captured him was a tall grizzled man who looked like he had seen some serious shit.

"Who are you? And where are you taking me?" asked Raki.

"Listen up kid, your now our property, we own you. There is nothing you can do about that, and no one is coming to save you. So I suggest you shut your mouth and keep walking."

Raki looked at the man. "That's not true! Clare is going to come for me! And when she gets here you are all screwed!"

Raki felt a swift kick to his stomach, he crumpled over and fell to his knees. "What did I just say kid? Shut your mouth and keep walking!" Raki got back up and did as he was told. "_That's all right…" _he thought "_Just a few more days and Clare will find me!" _

Unfortunately she never did find him, and as "a few days" became "a few weeks" became "A few months" Raki slowly began to lose hope. He waited and waited but his savior never came.

Raki, all alone in a cell, far in the northern lands, drew a picture of the twin goddesses as a reminder of the promise he and Clare made to each other. "_I'm going to get out of here, and I am going to find you." _He thought to himself.

Suddenly he heard footsteps approaching his cell, Raki turned around just in time to see a man wearing a strange outfit approaching his cell.

Raki observed the man's clothing, he seemed to be wearing a suit, it was a very dark blue color, and on the shoulders there was a gold trim. On the man's forearms Raki noticed a small metal device. On his hips was a strange black pouch which Raki would later learn was called a holster.

The man squatted down outside of Raki's cell, "Hey kid, you want out of that cage?" the man said in a polite yet sinister tone.

Raki thought for a moment, anything was better than the cell he was in, and if Raki came with the man than he would likely stay in the area, he wouldn't go any further north, and that meant Clare would have an easier time finding him.

"What's the catch?" asked Raki. The man smiled, he placed his hands on the bar and said, "I will get you out of that cell and I will make you one of the most fearsome humans to ever walk the planet if you come with me, all I ask in return is that you carry a weapon and fight for me…"

Raki's eyes widened as he began to think. "_One of the most fearsome humans to ever walk the planet"_ if that were true than he could finally protect Clare, he would no longer be her burden, he could be _her_ savior.

Raki looked back at the man "For how long?" asked Raki.

"I can't say for sure, but you will be allowed to return home when you have served your purpose." said the man.

Raki paused for a moment. He thought about Clare, he thought about all the times she saved him… Raki then proceeded to make the worst mistake of his life. He opened his mouth and said "yes".

The man grinned… "Good, then we shall start right away." the man began tapping the metal device that wrapped around his forearm, suddenly Raki was surrounded by a blinding light. "I will see you soon" said the man. Raki felt like his entire body was on fire, like every particle of his body was being torn off one by one, he tried to scream but couldn't, and as suddenly as the pain had come on, it went away. The light that surrounded him was gone, he looked around and saw that he wasn't in the same place as before, he was now in a small white room with almost nothing in it.

Raki looked all around the room but he couldn't find a door, he couldn't find anything, it was just a plain white room, there were no doors, windows, or candles… "_Wait, how can I see if there aren't any candles?"_

Raki looked up and found his answer. He saw a bright light being emitted from a small circle hanging from the ceiling.

Suddenly Raki heard a noise from behind him, he turned around only to find that the wall he saw just a few seconds earlier had now become open doorway.

"EVERYONE OUT!" a voice screamed from outside the room.

Raki, startled, did as he was told. Raki walked out of the doorway and into a wide white corridor filled with exactly 49 other people, on the sides there were other doorways just like the one he came out of.

When Raki looked at the people he noticed that a very small amount of them were dressed like commoners from the lands he traveled across with Clare. However most of the others were all dressed like they were from other planets. This puzzled Raki at the time, but later he would learn why they were dressed this way.

"FORWARD, MOVE IT! CLEAR THE HALL!" Screamed a man in dark green clothing.

Raki along with everyone else did as they were told and moved forward out of the hallway.

The group entered a large room where they were face to face with ten men who were dressed similarly to the man screaming out orders.

"Form a single file line in front of each Sergeant! Five people to a Line!" The screaming man said.

Raki fell into the line that was all the way on the left, standing in front of him was a young 11 year old boy, the same age as Raki at the time.

"Hey do you know what's going on?" asked Raki

"I have no Idea, I just got here! Where are they taking us?" said the boy.

"What do you mean, you have no Idea?" Said a voice from behind Raki.

Raki turned around to see a 15 year old boy staring at them. He was dressed strangely, like he wasn't from the same world as Raki. "You signed up for this didn't you? Just like everyone else." said the 15 year old.

"I was taken by slavers and a strange man said that he would give me my freedom if I agreed to come with him." said Raki. "Hey the same thing happened to me as well!" said the 11 year old boy.

The 15 year old looked at Raki and the other boy with a puzzled look on his face. "Wow, you really don't know what's going on do you?" Said the 15 year old.

Raki shook his head. "You and everyone else here just signed up to be soldiers, and right now we are beginning our training to fight in the largest and most dangerous war to ever exist…" Raki didn't understand what he was hearing, "Wait, what war? I didn't sign up for any war!" Said Raki.

"What do you mean 'what war'?" said the 15 year old boy "The war that has been plaguing the land for generations! The war to end all wars, the two hundred year war! The only way you couldn't have known about it is if you're an Stunt, and we would never use one of them… were not _that_ desperate." the boy said trailing off at the end as he looked at Raki's clothing.

"Well kid, I guess we are that desperate." Said the Sergeant staring at Raki and the 11 year old boy. "These two boys in your squad are abhuman."

The 15 year old stared at Raki with disgust, "Oh lucky me! I'm put in the squad with the freaks."

Raki was confused, "_What did he mean abhuman? Is there something wrong with me? Why is he saying that about me?" _Raki thought to himself.

"I wouldn't worry about them too much." Said the sergeant, "If they're abhuman than they probably won't live very long, everyone knows that they will never be good enough to live up to Terran standards." The sergeant said in his most condescending voice.

"Why are you here freak?" said the 15 year old. "You are not going to survive long out there, your kind will never do anything important, your useless, a waste of armor!"

Raki remembered how he felt when he was with Clare, he remembered feeling useless, he remembered how helpless he was against the Yoma. The words he was hearing now were a reminder that he could never live up to her…

Over the next twelve months of training, Raki would hear those words used to describe him a lot.

He would be discriminated against for reasons unknown to him. He was told by everyone that he would die immediately if he ever made it to the front line. Raki was called many things: Abhuman, Subhuman, Stunt, Freak, Waste of armor, Useless, Helpless, Bullet sponge… Even the sergeants would abuse him and the other "Stunts" more than they would other trainees.

Raki would be told daily that he would never amount to anything, that he would never live up to the people around him. It didn't matter how fast he was, how strong he became, or how accurate his shooting was, they still treated him the same.

Raki would be tripped by other soldiers when they all ran together, he would have his feet stomped on by his sergeants when the trainees all stood in formation, and they would beat him if he ever did anything wrong.

Raki had a very vivid memory of his sergeants beating him for doing something wrong; he remembered one night a sergeant was inspecting the soldiers uniforms and found that Raki's nameplate was not aligned. The sergeant who was on duty that day had a special hate for "Stunts" so when he saw that Raki had done something wrong he decided to let his anger out on him.

Immediately he grabbed Raki by the throat and threw him to the ground. "YOU ARE USELESS! YOU CAN NEVER DO ANYTHING RIGHT! YOU ARE JUST A WORTHLESS STUNT!" screamed the sergeant as he began stomping on Rakis gut.

"YOU ARE WEAK! YOU WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO DO ANYTHING!" Screamed the Sergeant. Raki thought about Clare, he thought about how she had protected him from so much. He thought about how useless he was against the yoma, how he would forever be at their mercy. "_I will never be able to protect Clare." _he thought to himself. "_Clare…" _he repeated her name in his mind as he continued to be beaten. "_Where are you?" _he thought as he took a blow to the face. "_I need you!" _Another hit "_Please!" _Raki gasped for air "_PLEASE HELP ME!" _He thought as he blacked out.

After that day Raki unknowingly became the fastest runner in his entire platoon of trainees, he learned to hit a target better than even the sergeants could,and he was able to lift far more than anyone else, he was one of the finest soldiers to ever come out of training, but none of it mattered, he was treated all the same.

Raki was verbally and physically abused to the point that even after everything he accomplished he still believed that he was just as weak and useless as he was at the beginning.

When their training was over, Raki was at the top of his class, but when they announced the top trainees they skipped over his name. Raki truly believed that he amounted to nothing, and when he told Miria about his time in training he told it exactly how he remembered it.

"I was one of the worst trainees that they ever saw, I was nothing, I could never live up to the other soldiers, I was destined for death the second I said yes to the man outside my cell."

Miria listened to everything he said attentively, she pursed her lips, "Raki… what did they mean when they called you abhuman?" asked Miria.

Raki looked down, "In truth I don't know much, but what I do know, I still find hard to believe." Raki looked back up at Miria, "There are other humans out there, humans that come from other worlds, they have far more advanced technology than we do, but they are violent, they wage war with one another for small reasons, but they are better than us in every way." Raki said with a sad look in his eyes.

"I never did find out why they called us things like abhuman, subhuman, or stunt, but every time I asked they refused to tell me. However I do know this, next to the Terrans, we are nothing…"

Miria paused for a long time, Raki couldn't tell what she was thinking about. He hoped he hadn't said anything wrong, if Miria threw him out he would no longer be with Clare. He knew that, next to her, he was nothing, just like he was nothing next to the Terrans.

If he had to leave, he doubted she would go with him, he knew that he was a heavy burden to bear and that he was basically useless to her.

"_She would be much better off with these warriors than with me."_ he thought.

Miria spoke up and interrupted Raki's self loathing thoughts. "I still have a few questions…" she said. "I will start with a simple question, when you were getting trained where were you? I know that I've never heard of, or even seen a place like what you are describing.

Raki looked up to the stars "I thought the location of my training was heavily implied" he said.

He looked back at Miria, "I mentioned that these humans are from other planets…" He continued. "Well, we were trained on their world." Said Raki.

Miria's eyes widened "So you've seen their world!" she exclaimed.

Raki stared at her judgingly. "Well no shit!" He said. Raki smiled and in his most sarcastic voice said, "I mean, I was just fighting in a 200 year war! We have lots of those here right? We have one by Rabona… one by Hanel-" Raki was cut off. "Okay, Okay I get it! That was a stupid question…" said Miria looking down. "I was just surprised by your story…"

Raki looked at Miria and replaced his smile with a serious expression. "I'm sorry, that was rude of me… anyways, you said you have a few more questions."

Miria looked back up at Raki, "Ok... second question, can you describe the world you were on? What did it look like? What kind of animals were there?"

Raki didn't have to think very long to answer her question. "Their world is very much like ours, the trees and vegetation that I saw were identical to the ones on our world, as for animals I did not get to see too many, but the ones I saw were identical as well." said Raki.

Miria looked surprised, and this time Raki understood it was for a genuine reason. "So despite the fact that they exist on another planet, their world is identical to ours." she said shocked.

"Yes… everything except for the man made objects were the same." said Raki. "Miria believe me when I tell you, their buildings were so tall that they touched the clouds, they had machines that allowed them to soar through the sky, they invented things that could allow them to move a mile in less than a minute. Their world's technology far exceeds ours, they are so wise, but their war machines far outshine anything you have ever seen in your life. They are a species with so much potential, yet they kill and wage war like savages."

Miria's expression didn't change, it was almost as if she had heard it all before. She sighed, "Raki, this will be my last question, it is the one I have been avoiding because I understand that it must be very difficult to talk about…"

Raki knew what she was about to say… "Can you please tell me wha-" "What the fighting was like?" He cut her off. Miria shut her eyes and nodded. "Yes... what was the fighting like?" she said solemnly.

Raki glared at her through sad eyes. "No…" he said meekly, Miria looked at him confused. "No...I can't tell you… No matter how hard I try I will never be able to even begin to put into words what I saw…what I did… it's not something I can just tell you about! I lost everything! Not only do I not want to revisit those memories, but even if I try to explain it… my words will never do it justice..."

Miria looked disappointed. "It's okay I completely understand… I don't want to push you, we all have our own hell... But at least tell me this... If you were fighting on an alien world, than how did you get back here?"

Raki furrowed his brow. "I honestly do not remember much… I just remember… fighting...and then falling… falling towards here." he said.

Miria decided to ask another question. "Okay then… before that… what is the last thing you remember?"

Raki had to think hard to remember, he had to dig deep, past all the fighting for whatever details he could muster, when suddenly, it all came back to him. He looked at Miria, "I remember one night I was approached by a man wearing strange armor, he told me that he had heard about me through my CO. Apparently they were looking for survivors...people who fought a lot but always came back alive. He told me that he was recruiting for a new special forces unit… and for whatever reason he wanted me to join."

Miria lifted her head, "Special forces?" she asked.

"Yes" said Raki "Our side had small divisions of elite soldiers that served many different purposes, some were undercover spies, others were amphibious divers, but whatever the case was, they were off of the front line and somewhere safer. So naturally I jumped at the opportunity to get off of the front."

Miria became very intrigued, she leaned closer in towards Raki. "That night I left the frontline, and then I was taken to… I was taken to…" Raki paused and began rubbing his temples.

"_Where DID they take me?" _He thought.

"What's wrong? Asked Miria.

"Nothing, I just feel like I am missing parts of my memory."

Miria cocked her head to the side, "Well that's strange…" she said "You said that each special forces group did something different…" she continued "Well what did yours do?" she asked.

Raki appeared strained. "I don't know… I just… damn… what did we do?" he said.

Raki's memory began coming back in flashes, he remembered a fight on the front line, the memory took place AFTER he was recruited for special forces. He remembered feeling invincible… he remembered feeling like he couldn't die. "_What did they do to me?" _he thought.

Raki tried to remember more, but then he began to feel like someone was screaming at him... "STOP GO BACK!" the voice seemed to say. "YOU DO NOT WANT TO REMEMBER!" it said.

Raki felt as if the memory was right in front of him and all he had to do was reach out for it, but every part of him was screaming at him, begging him not to dig any deeper.

"What do you remember?" asked Miria.

Raki stopped trying to remember, "Nothing… I can't remember anything after the man approached me…" he lied.

They both sat in Silence, neither of them knowing what to make of the situation.

"Well it's pretty late…" Said Miria "I have decided that you can stay with us if you wish…" Raki beamed at Miria with a smile. He was thrilled that he wouldn't have to leave Clare. "On one condition…" said Miria as she stood up, "If you begin to remember anything, you come to me first." she said. Raki nodded his head "Will do!" he said.

Raki and Miria made their way back to the cave. Upon entering they found everyone asleep, everyone except for Clare, who was eagerly awaiting Raki's return.

Miria looked at Clare, "He can stay… for now…" she said. Clare smiled and nodded at Miria.

Clare looked over at Raki and her smile seemed to widen, her face said that she was glad he could stay but deep down, beneath her countenance, she was far more thrilled than she was letting on.

Miria spoke up "Get some sleep, were training tomorrow , and Raki…" Raki looked at Miria. "Tomorrow, you will be joining us." she said as she walked away, further into the cave, leaving Clare and Raki alone.

Clare was leaned back against her claymore staring at Raki.

Raki simply smiled and moved towards her, normally when they traveled together he would sleep a good few feet away from her, but tonight he sat his tired and wounded body right next to her and leaned back against the cave wall.

Raki knew she wouldn't mind the close proximity, after all, she had held him in her lap for three days straight. Raki's eyes drifted towards Clare, he met her gaze.

He looked her up and down, she looked exactly how he remembered, she hadn't changed at all since they split up.

"It's funny…" he said out loud to her. "You look exactly the same as you did back then… not a thing has changed…"

Clare began to speak. "Yet you have changed so much… your hair… your face...I even noticed a few new scars!" she said as she looked up and saw Raki gawking at her. "Huh… what's wrong?" she asked.

Raki shook his head, "It's nothing…" He smiled "I just...can't believe...I cant believe it's all over...and that i'm finally here with you! I've waited so long to find you… I can't believe you're actually here!" he said.

Clare's eyes widened, she completely understood how he felt. She turned her body to the right and grabbed Raki's hands.

She began to speak, "Raki…" she squeezed his hand "I… I just want to say…that" there was so much that she wanted to say, so much to get off of her chest, but how? How could she say how she felt about him, when even she didn't know how she felt. She felt a lump in her throat begin to form. "I want to say that I understand… I still can't believe that you are here either! It's been so long… I missed you." she decided to simplify her feelings, careful not to show too many of her emotions.

Raki smiled at Clare, "I missed you too…" he yawned. Raki was struggling to keep his eyes open, but he willed them not to shut because he wanted to spend every moment he had with Clare.

"Raki…" she said "What happened to you… when I was gone…" she asked.

Raki paused, he didn't know how to respond to her question, what could he say? He had no words to describe what he saw. He thought about everything he went through over the past five years, and he decided to generalize it with one word. "Hell…" he said coldly. "I walked through hell."

With that Raki slipped off to sleep leaving Clare alone with her thoughts. "_Hell"_ she thought. "_What could that be?"_ she thought. She looked over at Raki, she gently placed her hand on his cheek. He HAD changed so much, he no longer had a baby face, he was mature, he had well kept hair and, he was much more built. She leaned back away from him, she knew that he needed rest, she could wait to find out what happened to him.

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The Viper

Location: Orbit of Planet 5607

"Do we have his location?"

"Negative, but we know that he is still on this planet."

"...We need to find him… he is too important! We can't let him fall into the wrong hands…"

"You're not thinking about…"

"We have no choice"

"..."

"Reactivate The Viper! We can't let the experiment get away! He is too valuable!"

"Roger that sir!"

Agent Kennedy ran to the Cryogenic holding wing of the ship. He found captain Dawson, the man in charge of the cryogenic subjects, and relayed his orders. "Initiate protocol 415" said Kennedy. Captain Dawson's eyes widened "Your sure?" he asked. "We have no choice, time is of the essence." said Kennedy. With a deep breath Dawson entered his password into his terminal and began to reactivate The Viper. Dawson looked at Kennedy, "I need the targets ID." he said. "The targets ID is LS-11" Dawson typed the code into his terminal. "The Viper will be reactivated in 10 seconds." Kennedy held his breath as Dawson counted down. "4...3...2...1…"

"Welcome back sir…" those were the first words The Viper heard as he woke up… He didn't remember much… but he knew that he had one mission… find and capture LS-11… The Catalyst… Sergeant Raki...


	4. The Clearing

**_Disclaimer:_ I do not own Claymore**

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Clare

Clare took a deep breath in as she woke up from her sleep, it was very early in the morning; the sun was just beginning to rise.

She lifted her head up slowly and looked around, to her horror she found that in the night she had wrapped her arms around a sleeping Raki, holding him extremely close.

Gently, as not to wake him, she unwrapped her arms from around Raki and stood up slowly, hoping to GOD that Helen hadn't seen her like this… she would never hear the end of it.

Clare heard a small shifting noise from behind her, slowly she turned around, dreadfully awaiting to see Helen sitting watching her, but to her relief she just saw Cynthia.

"Hi Clare…" she said quietly, looking down awkwardly away from Clare.

Clare knew that she had to have seen them sleeping.

"Please do not tell anyone about this… especially Helen because I will never hear the end of-" She was cut off by Helen entering the room

"Don't tell me what?" she asked mischievously, holding a half eaten apple in her right hand.

Clare remained silent, she was trying to think of what to say that would seem believable.

Helen walked closer to her and then looked over at Raki, she noticed how close Clare's sword was to his sleeping body.

"No… you guys weren't…" she began with a grin

Clare was at a loss for words, she had no Idea what to say, but luckily Cynthia chimed in.

"No they weren't doing anything like that…" She said quietly yet assertively.

"Really? Then what happened?" asked Helen.

Cynthia looked at Clare and Clare met her gaze with pleading eyes, finally after a small moment of silence Cynthia looked back at Helen and spoke up, "Clare tripped and fell… she almost landed on Raki… but luckily didn't…" Said Cynthia.

Clare looked at her surprised, she hadn't expected her to do that for her… she expected her to say nothing at all.

Helen peered at Cynthia for a small bit… but then backed away… "Ehh I guess that's kinda funny" She said.

She patted Clare on the back… "So clumsy sometimes" she smiled at Clare, and then left the room leaving the two warriors alone.

Clare looked at Cynthia. "Hey… uh… thanks for having my back just now… I really appreciate it." she said quietly.

"Oh… uh… sure thing Clare, I'm happy to help." Said Cynthia as she looked up at Clare and smiled meekly.

Clare nodded her head and looked back at Raki. "You know Clare…" said Cynthia "It's really great that you found Raki. I can see how much he has affected you." she said.

Clare looked back at her, "What do you mean?" she asked.

Cynthia looked down with clear discomfort. "Oh...well… I guess I just meant that… well, Clare, I've noticed that ever since he got here you have been a lot less depressed… In the short time you have been together he has clearly made you happier." she said sweetly.

Clare gazed back at her with a slightly stunned look on her face, at that moment she didn't know what to think, she knew that deep down Cynthia may have been on to something, but she also didn't want to seem like she cared all that much.

She knew that for someone like herself, life was very short, she wasn't meant to feel what she was feeling, she was meant to be cold and heartless, she was bred to kill and nothing more.

She didn't say anything back to Cynthia, she remained quiet. Miria entered the room along with the rest of the seven ghosts, "Wake the boy, we are bringing him with us to train." said Miria. Clare did as she was told and shook Raki awake.

"Wake up" she whispered softly. Raki groggily opened one eye and looked at Clare. "Come on, you are coming with us." she said.

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The Viper

Location: Wasteland outside Doga (Raki's hometown)

The Viper walked quickly away from his drop pod, he had landed not far from Raki's hometown.

The Viper had experience in hunting down lost test subjects, and he knew that home was always the best place to start.

After a good 15 minutes of walking he saw Doga off in the distance, he picked up the pace slightly. His mission was to capture Raki and bring him back to his commander, an easy enough task for someone like him, he had done much worse.

The Townspeople were baffled at the peculiar man approaching their town.

He was wearing a strange set of armor that could only be described as otherworldly.

He had a full face helmet on, with two small glass circles where the man's eyes belonged, over the mouth they saw what looked like a mask with tubes coming out of the sides.

As the man grew closer the townspeople became more and more nervous.

A large crowd had gathered near the main gate, watching the man enter the town. His breathing was incredibly heavy and raspy, it sounded as if he was very sick.

The man stood in the middle of the crowd. "I am looking for a man…" he said in a deep and sinister voice. "He is about six foot four… short brown hair… and a scar over his eye!" he announced "His name is Raki, and I have been sent to find him." Said the Viper.

One of the town elders spoke up. "Raki?" he asked.

"You know him?" questioned the Viper.

"Yea… he used to live here… but he left a long time ago after his family was killed by a yoma." said the old man.

"A yoma..." the viper quietly repeated to himself.

"Thank you…" Said the Viper coldly.

"So will you be moving on then?" asked one of the townsmen.

"I will…" said the Viper as he pulled his rifle off of his back. "...AFTER I leave my message for Raki…" spoke the Viper, Suddenly the Vipers rifle made a clicking noise.

"What kind of message?" asked the old man nervously. "The one that hits close to home… the one you will deliver…" deadpanned the Viper.

The townspeople were confused, when all of a sudden they heard a loud Bang come for the object that the man strange man was holding.

A small amount of screaming was let loose as some of the townspeople saw blood spraying out of a mans head.

Before they realized what was happening the townspeople began hearing the banging grow faster and faster. _BANG BANG BANG, _three more townspeople fell to the ground.

_BANG BANG BANG_ three more. All of the townspeople began to scatter, but it wasn't anywhere near enough to escape the hellfire.

_BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG. _More rounds tore through the innocent townspeople as they all began crying out for help.

The Viper eventually stopped firing, he looked around himself and found that he had taken down about nine of the villagers.

"It's not enough…" he bellowed to himself. "Mama! MAMA!" he heard a small child crying from behind him.

The Viper turned around and looked at a little girl who had just cried out for her mama. He watched the girl desperately cling on to her dead mother's corpse. With all of the might the small girl could muster, she cried out for her mama, desperately begging her to wake up, to come back, but to no avail, for her mother was already dead.

The Viper approached the crying girl, any normal human would have at least attempted to comfort the girl, but not the Viper, he was not exactly what one would call human, and this little girl was exactly what he was looking for...

He placed the end of his rifle to the little girls head, "This is my message…" he said as he pulled the trigger.

A shell jumped from the side of his rifle and fell to the blood stained stone below his feet. The little girl's lifeless body crumpled to the ground beside her mother, the Viper looked down at her, beneath his mask, his expression did not change. In truth the Viper was once an innocent man, a man who would have been appalled at the scene before him, but not anymore…

He heard a noise from behind him. He looked over his shoulder and at the elder man who knew Raki, the Viper had not shot him.

The elder man had not run away like the other villagers, instead he fell to his knees in shock.

The man began shaking uncontrollably as he cried.

The Viper approached the man and grabbed him by his shirt, lifting him up off of the ground and holding him at eye level.

"This is my message…" he said to the man. "If you EVER see Raki… you WILL tell him EVERYTHING you saw here today… You will tell him that if he does not come quietly, then the carnage I will release on his world will make this massacre seem like nothing at all..." Said the Viper. He then let go of the man's shirt and dropped him to the ground.

Without looking back, the Viper walked off into the distance heading north.

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Raki

"We're here" announced Miria as they ghosts along with Raki all entered a small clearing deep in the snowy forest.

Raki took a look around at his surroundings, to the left he saw a small lake that had frozen over completely, in the center of the lake there was a large rock jutting out of the ice.

To his right Raki saw an immensely large tree, it seemed very out of place, almost like it grew somewhere far away but was later moved and replanted.

The tree had a diameter of about four feet, it reached much higher than the other trees around it, if Raki didn't know any better he would have thought that the tree was guarding the entire forest.

All around the clearing Raki saw large boulders dotting the landscape. He was entranced by the beauty of the terrain, for so long he had only seen death, but this clearing… there was something special about it, it seemed to radiate life and hope.

The Ghosts all took off into different directions, some were going off to train while others wanted to relax after the hour long walk, all left except for Clare and Miria.

During the walk from the cave, Raki and Clare stayed close together, Raki felt safe walking beside Clare, and Clare still felt very protective of Raki, despite the fact that he was almost a foot taller than her.

On the way to the clearing Clare told Raki everything that happened to her over the past five years.

He was entranced by her story of meeting Irene and using the quick-sword to defeat Ophelia. Clare told Raki about Jean and how she followed her everywhere.

"Where is she now?" he asked during the walk.

Clare remained silent for a moment, she remembered killing Jean in her half awakened form, she felt incredibly guilty.

"She died protecting me…" said Clare, she intentionally left out the part about nearly awakening, she felt a sense of guilt, if Raki found out about her nearly awakening, and in turn, nearly breaking their promise… how would that make him feel? She wondered to herself.

After Clare mentioned Jeans death, she stopped telling Raki about her experience while they were separated.

Clare desperately wanted to hear Raki's side of the story, but for his sake Clare waited until they reached the clearing to ask Raki the questions she had burning in the back of her mind.

In truth every single one of the ghosts was dying to find out what happened to Raki and why he had fallen from the sky, but they all knew there place, and they knew that they had no right to ask Raki such questions at the moment, they would have to wait their turn.

"Raki" said Miria as she turned to face the boy, "I think it's time that you told Clare what happened to you…"

Raki looked at Clare, he could tell she was eager to find out what happened to him.

Raki remembered what Miria said to him after he told her his story, he remembered while they were walking back to the cave Miria had cautioned him not to tell anyone about his recruitment into "Special Forces", at least until he had his complete memory of it.

Raki paused for a long moment, he really didn't want to tell Clare about what happened, he was afraid of what she would think, all he wanted was to forget about everything and just be with Clare.

Raki didn't want her to think different about him, he just wanted to start over and never think about everything he went through.

"Raki…" Clare softly spoke. Raki continued to look at her with sad eyes.

"Yes Clare?" he asked.

"I know this must be hard for you…" spoke Clare, "But please know that you can tell me anything…"

Raki took a deep breath in, he didn't want to do this, but he knew that he had to.

Raki began to tell Clare everything that happened to him. "I was taken by slavers just outside of Hanel, who brought me up north and put me in a cell…"

Clare looked apologetically at Raki, "Im sorry I wasn't there to help you…" sighed Clare.

"It's okay… it's not your fault…" he said.

Raki continued his story. "While I was in my cell I was approached by a man who offered me my freedom and promised to make me a great warrior, in return he said I would have to serve him for a small amount of time." explained Raki.

Clare glared at Raki, "Oh god…" she shook her head "Please for the love of god... tell me that you didn't say yes to him…"

Raki shrunk back a bit and faced away from Clare, he felt his neck stiffen up a small amount as he shook his head yes.

Her eyes widened "WHAT! Why would you do something so stupid! In what way was that EVER going to end well!" shouted Clare.

"I just wanted to get out of that cage…" he said quietly.

"For all you knew he could have been with the organization! Or maybe he was with a Bandit gang! Or something worse!" Scolded Clare, showing genuine concern for the boy.

Raki looked down, he felt his throat tighten up, "something worse…" he said quietly. Clare backed down and looked at him. "Huh?" she asked.

Raki clenched his hands into fists. "Clare… saying yes to that man… was the worst mistake I ever made in my life… yea a bandit gang would have been bad… and the organization would have been absolutely horrible… but the group this man was apart of… was on a whole 'nother level…" he said sadly "Not a day goes by without me wishing that I never said yes…" he hung his head down low. "I would watch my parents get eaten alive a thousand times before I would ever say yes to him again…"

A look of guilt spread across Clare's already shocked face. "Raki…" she whispered "I'm sorry… I didn't know…"

"It's okay…" he said calmly, he took a deep breath in and continued his story.

"Immediately after I said yes to the man I was surrounded by a blinding light."

Clare's eyes widened as she remembered the circular scar on the ground she found inside of Raki's cell.

"I was transported to… to another planet…" he said quietly.

This took a moment to register inside of Claire's head. "Wha- what do you mean another planet?" she stammered. "How could that be?" she asked.

Raki shook his head "To this day I still have no idea how I actually got there… but yes… there are other planets out there, and this particular one was exactly like ours in every way, except for the fact that the humans on that planet were far more advanced us." said Raki.

Clare remained quiet and tried to wrap her head around what Raki was saying, about a minute later she seemed to accept what he was saying, she muttered "Ok… what happened when you arrived on the...uhh… planet?" she said, having a hard time repeating the word planet.

Raki looked down, "When I arrived I was put inside a room with 49 other people, most of these people were natives to the planet I was on, but a few of them were from here… from this planet."

"So there were others like you?" asked Clare

"Yes…the people from our world... they call us Stunts… according to the natives we aren't even considered full humans." said Raki. Clare cocked her head to the side "Why would they not consider the people of this world human?" she asked.

"I don't know, whenever I asked they would never tell me… they would just tell me that I needed to mind my own business and do as I was told."

"Okay… moving on, what happened with you and the other 49 people after you arrived?

"We were moved to a camp, and for a year we trained to be soldiers in their sick twisted war…" he said

"Wait… you were a soldier? In what war? What were you fighting?" she pleaded.

Raki's throat tightened up, he had been anticipating this question...

She had asked him "_WHAT _were you fighting?" not WHO but WHAT.

How was Raki going to tell her... how was he going to tell her that the sweet innocent boy she had traveled with had taken human lives? That the non-violent child who had cried when Clare killed HER friend, had brutally murdered other humans, humans who had lives and families.

How could he tell her that he was no better than the yoma she hunts? How could he possible tell her? He felt a familiar sting behind his eyes, he decided to close them, because he didn't want to see the disappointment in her eyes when he told her what he had done.

"These… these humans… they have been fighting among each other for 200 years… humans… fighting other humans!" He pointed his head down at his feet. "And I just went with it... I am no better than the yoma who killed my family! I took the lives of other people! People who had lives and families of their own!" His Voice broke "It didn't matter who you were… it didn't matter if you were a kid… a husband… a son… if you were out there… you died!" his breathing became very heavy. "Every time I went out there… into that hell… I would barely make it back! I watched my comrades, my friends, die in the most horrific ways!" With all his strength he held back his tears, "For five years I watched my friends die...but somehow… somehow I survived."

Suddenly a jolt of shock took over Raki as his memory began flashing over him. A thought took over his mind "_No Raki...you didn't survive the war…" _ It was as if his subconscious was telling him something, trying to make him remember a forgotten memory.

"_Why did I just think that? I'm alive aren't I? I survived the war!" _once again he was filled with an overwhelming feeling that he was missing something important, a memory that was right in front of him, all he had to do was reach out for it. He knew that he could remember it if he tried, but something was stopping him, it was as if someone was screaming at him, telling him to turn back and run as fast as he could, begging him not to remember.

Suddenly the world around him began to fall away, his surroundings seemed to vanish, Raki was now surrounded by a black void.

Stunned Raki frantically began looking around him, out of nowhere the world began to fade back into existence, but the world was not how he left it, no… the once peaceful clearing was now a war torn battle ground, littered with the dead and dying.

All around him he saw the flames of hell, the once green grass was black and burned, the trees that stood so tall were now all dead and withered, the once ice covered lake was now a pool of blood.

Raki looked down and saw that once again, he was wearing his blood stained uniform.

"No…" he shuddered as he crumpled face first to the muddy ground,"No No No NO!" he screamed. Tears began to flood his eyes "I-I didn't-" he stammered as he rolled onto his back and gazed at the sky "I didn't survive the war…" he rolled onto his side into the fetal position and screamed out "I NEVER LEFT!"

**_Authors Note:_**_ Well damn... sorry this was so short, (and sorry for the kinda cliffhanger I was originally going to include another scene, but I wanted to release this withing two weeks of my last post) I haven't been writing as much, I've had a lot going on, I have finals coming up and My birthday was a few days ago so I haven't been putting as much time into this stuff. Anyways sorry about that. Moving on, in case you couldn't tell this series is NOT going to be a short one and it's not gonna be all sunshine and rainbows either, so buckle up. Sure there will be times when I will throw in sweet sentimental happy mushy stuff but I believe that those moments don't matter as much if they aren't worked towards, but they are coming, I promise. Anyways please review, I love reading the reviews people leave and they seriously help keep me motivated. Tell me what you guys think of Raki, He's meant to be kinda f*cked up in the head towards the beginning (and it's all for a reason I promise) but I haven't really showed the full extent of that yet, he's not evil or insane or anything, he's just meant to be battered and scarred (hence "__**The Battered Soldier**__") Tell me if you guys prefer the happier stuff or the darker stuff, I would love to hear back from you guys so please review._


	5. Sacrifice

**_Disclaimer:_ I do not own Claymore**

**_Authors note-_**_OKAY, before y'all get __into__ this, I have to explain some stuff. __**1.**__ This chapter contains my first (Kinda) fight scene, so sorry if it isn't amazing, i'm working on it. _

_**2\. **__I __apologize for my previous writing format, Until I got that anonymous comment, (Thank you BTW, whoever that was, I really needed to get that message!) (By the way, by the way, that was NOT sarcasm I am __legitimately__grateful) Until I got that anonymous comment, I have been writing this thing like a formal english paper, instead of... you know, a story, for people to actually read. _

_**3.**__THIS CHAPTER IS INCOMPLETE! I was originally going to add more and flesh out some of the story more, but then I realized, OH SHIT! It's finals week isn't it? I should probably study! So, this chapter is coming out early because there is no way that I am doing anything else this weekend other than studying. But I know what you are thinking, "Why not just wait three weeks to release the new chapter?" The answer to that my good sir's and lady's is that I am the type of person with absolutely no work ethic. So If I release something a week late, then they ALL get released a week late. _

_I am so bad at pacing my work, that if I don't give myself I deadline, I WILL LITERALLY NEVER DO IT. Anyways... More Authors note's at the bottom, didn't want to spoil anything._

_(Not that anything is that huge of a deal anyway...)_

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Clare

"What were you fighting?"

This seemed like a simple question, one that warranted a simple answer. Clare originally thought that the answer to that question would be yoma, or some other kind of monster, but the response given by Raki was neither of those.

"These… these humans… they have been fighting among each other for 200 years… humans… fighting other humans!" Said Raki

Clare's eyes widened as she stared at the boy sitting before her. "_No…how can that be? He could never hurt anyone! He sobbed when I killed MY friend, someone who he didn't even know!" she thought to herself. "Raki?… fought against other humans?" _To her it seemed completely improbable. "_Perhaps he meant bandits? Or criminals? It had to be some kind of scum, Raki would never hurt an innocent." _Before she could even ask and clarify Raki answered her question for her.

"It was war… and I just went with it... I am no better than the yoma who killed my family! I took the lives of other people! People who had lives and families of their own!"

Clare heard his words resonate inside her head. But one seemed to stick with her more than the rest. That one word… "War"... in all of the land there was only one _war_, the constant struggle between humanity and monstrosity.

Other than the occasional bandit gang, humans never waged war against other humans, there was no real reason to, humanity ALWAYS had enough resources to maintain the population and the settlements never got in each other's way. So how could Raki be fighting a war against other humans? The whole idea seemed completely foreign to her.

Raki's new words broke through her thoughts. "It didn't matter who you were… it didn't matter if you were a kid… a husband… a son… if you were out there… you died!" his breathing became very heavy. "Every time I went out there… into that hell… I would barely make it back! I watched my comrades, my friends, die in the most horrific ways!" He clenched his hands into fists, "For five years I watched my friends die...but somehow… somehow I survived."

Every sentence hit harder and harder than the one before it, the way he spoke about his "war" it seemed familiar, it was almost exactly how she felt after the battle in the north. She remembered watching her comrades die in horrifically gruesome ways, all the while she survived, even though she was the weakest warrior out of all of them.

Suddenly Raki's breathing became erratic. His body began to shake violently. "Hey! What's going on?" asked Miria. She received no response…

He fell to his knees and curled up. Frightened the two warriors standing before him took a small step back. The others who had been training just moments earlier began to take notice. Soon all seven warriors surrounded the young man.

Raki began mumbling nonsense. He began sobbing. "I….never….left…" he shuddered slowly.

"What's going on? What's happening to him?" asked Cynthia with genuine concern.

"We don't know! I just asked him a question and he started freaking out!" Said Clare

"Welp! nice going Clare! You just made the space dude have a mental breakdown!" Exclaimed Helen.

"Wait!? How is this my fault?!" Shouted Clare

"Well your the one who was asking all the questions!" Responded Helen.

"HOW DARE YOU!" yelled Clare

The two of them began arguing like school children, all the while the other five ghosts were trying to figure out what the hell was happening to Raki.

"DID NOT!" Yelled Clare.

"UH-HUH, DID TO!" Shouted Helen

After about a minute of back and forth arguing, pulling hair, and overall chaos, the leader of what might as well have been a circus sideshow decided to speak up.

"OK YOU TWO! IT'S TIME TO SHUT UP!" Roared Miria. The two "professional" warriors immediately stopped moving and stared at Miria. Clare had managed to get Helen into a headlock, meanwhile Helen had reached her arm back and was pulling on Clares short hair. Following an accusing stare from Miria the two of them let go of the other and stood up straight.

"We need to figure out what's going on with Raki." She said

Deneve decided to speak up "I think I might know."

All eyes were on Deneve, waiting for her to explain Raki's current situation.

"I've seen this before…" she said calmly. "I've seen similar things happen to a lot of people, spanning from guards within large cities, all the way to our fellow warriors." She looked down at Raki's crumpled form. "This curse… this sickness…this tormentation...this...this hell! It is a special torture saved only for the most battered of soldiers…" ( :D ehh? Ehh? Anyone? No… ok… I'll stop ruining your immersion…)

"Wait, so what is it?" Asked Yuma.

"There isn't really a name for it… but imagine the single darkest and most horrifying moment in your life...now imagine that at the sound of one word or sight of one thing, you are reminded of that horrible event and your mind pulls you back into that specific moment, forcing you to relive your darkest moment over and over again, almost as if you were there seeing it for the first time…" Explained Deneve

Everyone began to stare at Raki, he was curled up, rocking back and forth.

"Right now, in his mind, from his point of view, he is in that moment, reliving it in vivid detail, almost as if he were physically there… trapped in his own hell…" Explained Deneve

"Oh god…" Shuddered Clare "Raki…" now showing genuine sympathy for him. "_I need to help him! No one deserves this… I don't care if he killed other humans! That doesn't change who he is! He is Raki, and I need to help him, I need to save him, I need... to protect him…" _she thought to herself.

She walked in front of him and fell to her knees, "Raki…" she rested her hands on his shoulders. "I don't know if you can hear me, but if you can I need you to listen!" she said. "What your seeing...it isn't real! None of it is! You aren't anywhere where you can be hurt… you are here with me. You are safe. I AM real, and this-" she hugged him. "THIS is real, you can't be hurt, you are safe…"

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Raki

"GOD DAMNIT! HE'S FUCKED UP!"

"JUST KEEP PRESSURE ON THAT WOUND!"

"I CAN'T- I- I CAN'T STOP THE BLEEDING SARGE!"

Raki was staring down at his squadmate, an explosion had gone off just a few yards away from the boy. Some shrapnel from the blast tore apart his body. Chaos had erupted all around them, the sounds of gunfire seemed to come from everywhere. Raki looked up at the team medic, a private by the name of Jackson.

"SARGE WHAT THE FUCK DO WE DO? HE NEEDS MEDICAL ATTENTION FAST! HE'S NOT GONNA MAKE IT IF WE DON'T GET HIM BACK SOON!" Shouted Jackson.

With a grim look on his face Raki observed the rest of his squad, they were so close to the objective, yet almost all of the soldiers were injured, one of them needed help walking and the rest were all bleeding from various places. Every soldier in his squad was injured… all except for him…

Roughly six months earlier Raki finished his special forces training, since then he had been deployed constantly. Raki's current mission was to lead a platoon of basic infantrymen into the battlefield and capture a compound. Normally, for a mission like this they would only use a squad of special forces soldiers, but they were running low, and they needed to use infantrymen instead…

As a matter of fact, they were so low on special forces soldiers that they let a young female stunt join up with the special forces. Normally females weren't even allowed to fight at all. However, Raki knew all too well from his time with Clare, that with the right training, women could be just as strong, if not stronger than most men. (I DON'T WANT TO OFFEND ANYONE)

That one girl had gone through the training at the same time as him, she looked to be about eleven, the same age as Raki when he got sent to fight here. She, an eleven year old girl, had performed better than anyone else during the training and selection process. She reminded Raki of Clare, perhaps she was secretly a claymore! But Raki doubted it. She did not have the signature blonde hair and silver eyes, instead she had short, spikey, black hair and brown eyes.

The girl Rarely spoke, but for whatever reason she seemed to be very fond of Raki, at first Raki was a bit freaked out, but eventually he began to grow quite fond of her too. It started out as a small alliance, but then it turned into a friendship, and then a bond…

"RAKI!" Shouted Jackson. Raki snapped out of his trance. "Sarge… the mission is fucked! We're fucked! We are trapped here! It's too hot for air extraction and the enemy is moving in fast!"

Raki knew that these men were all going to die if he didn't do something, but what could he do? Suddenly an Idea popped into his head. Hesitantly he turned on his radio, "First platoon, rally on my position!" a few moments later the platoon was together.

"Look, I know we are in a tight spot, but I promise you! I will get you back safely… all of you." Raki knew what he had to do, and he knew that only he could do it… but even with all of his training, his chances of succeeding were slim to none.

"Listen… I got us into this… and _**I**_ am going to get us out of it." He looked at Sergeant Allen, "Allen, as the ranking NCO and second in command of this platoon, I need you to call in an evacuation transport on my signal." He said.

Allen looked up at Raki, "Raki, what's the signal?" he asked.

"You will know it when you see it…" said Raki.

"Look… this platoon is in your hands now… You need to get them back safe. Okay?" said Raki.

"Roger that" said Allen

Raki wasted no time, he ran off to the left flank of the incoming enemy soldiers and snuck past them with ease. He made his way to the compound, trying to ignore the firefight that was happening not far behind him. Immediately Raki noticed that the compound seemed deserted, all of the soldiers were out fighting his platoon.

Raki took off his backpack and pulled out a small block of C-4. He rigged it up to one of the fuel tanks within the compound. Raki Ran inside the main building in the compound, taking the detonator with him.

He ran to the top floor and crouched just beneath a window that had a mounted machine gun on it. He held the detonator in between his shaky hands. He held his breath. _3...2...1…. _Raki pressed the detonator and braced for impact.

_KA-BOOM_

The C-4 did it's job and caused a massive explosion. Almost immediately All gunfire had ceased, the enemy soldiers all turned around and stared in awe at the massive explosion that came from the compound.

Raki, looked around him, the C-4 Certainly did the trick. He looked off to his left, he noticed that somehow, half of the building had disappeared and had magically turned into a pile of rubble. (I wonder how that happened.) "Whoops…" he said to himself. Suddenly Raki began to remember what he was doing. "Oh yea I was supposed to be doing something right now wasn't I?"

He remembered his squadmates, men who HE had failed to effectively lead into battle, men who were about to lose their lives because of his poor decision making. Raki knew that he couldn't let them die.

He stood up and took hold of the mounted machine gun. He began to fire into the crowd of enemy soldiers. One after another they fell. The enemy began to scatter and take cover from the machine gun, turning their backs to the platoon behind them. Immediately they began taking fire from the platoon. Soon enough they scattered into the treeline where they had cover from both sides.

Raki knew that he had to hold his position until evac arrived, but when they got there and evacuated his platoon, what would become of him? There was no way that they would be able to get him, for all he knew help wouldn't arrive for days or weeks.

"_NO...I Can't think about that right now!" _he thought to himself "_I need to focus on surviving and making sure my men survive." _He thought.

After a few minutes of holding his position and suppressing the enemy, Raki saw a friendly helicopter land and pick up his platoon. Raki heard a voice on his radio. "_Come in! Raki, we are coming to get you!"_ it was Allen.

Raki picked up his radio. "Negative, someone needs to cover your escape." He said "_What!? No! Raki we are coming to get you!"_ Raki shook his head. "I told you, my answer is no. I will be fine, I always am. Do not worry about me. I left you in charge of the platoon, that means you take care of them, don't jeopardize the safety of those men for me. Now Go! That's an order." He commanded.

After a long silence Raki noticed the Helicopter begin to lift off. "_Ok… we are taking off…special forces reinforcements are en route..." _said Allen over the Radio. "_And sarge…"_ Raki looked down at his radio. "_Thank you…"_

Raki looked back up and noticed that some of the enemy troops were leaving the treeline, immediately he opened fire on them, but instead of moving back into the tree line, they moved up closer to the compound. "Not good…" he said to himself.

Raki looked up and saw that the helicopter was a good distance away. "_I need to leave now!"_ he said to himself. Raki quickly got off of the gun and ran down to the bottom of the building. He kicked open the door and ran outside.

Raki was nearing closer to the edge of the compound, he knew that if he made it to the treeline he would be safe. BUT He never made it to the treeline… After just a few steps outside of the building, he saw a fist heading straight for his face

BAM!

Raki hit the ground hard, he had no idea where the man who punched him had come from, or how he had hit him so hard, but all Raki knew was that he needed to act fast. Raki stood up fast and lifted his gun, but he was greeted face to face by a monster of a man. The Man was unusually tall, and he was strong too, he looked like he could bench press a truck. Raki attempted to take aim at the man but his gun was knocked out of his hand, and Raki was kicked to the ground.

"Not such tough shit now, are ya kid?" said the man.

Raki grabbed his knife off of his boot.

He leaned forward and lunged at the man's midsection.

At seemingly inhuman speed, the man dodged Raki's attack.

Raki was met with a swift kick to the back, pushing his body to the ground hard.

"You should just give up now…" Chuckled man, "No one has ever won a fight against me."

Raki stood back up. "You won't break me…" he said definitely.

"Oh, but I will… I WILL break you" Responded the man.

Raki lunged in again, quicker this time.

But the man was even faster, faster then Raki's eyes could see.

In a flash he sidestepped Raki's attack.

"_DAMN, HOW IS HE MOVING SO FAST?" _Rakhi thought to himself,

Suddenly, the man grabbed Raki's wrist and whipped him to the ground.

Raki cried out in pain as his wrist was shattered. Raki attempted to stand back up, but found the mans boot pressed down on his chest, holding him to the ground.

"You've got guts kid…" said the man. "But I am afraid that there is a difference between bravery and stupidity, and today it seems that you have crossed that line."

The man placed his other foot onto Raki's right shoulder.

He wrapped both of his hands onto Rakis right arm.

Raki, struggled against the mans Iron grip.

He began swinging his left arm into the man's side.

The man, clearly surprised, lifted his foot off of Raki's chest.

In an instant he began Pounding his foot into Raki's face.

After Raki's face was completely bloodied, the man stopped kicking him.

He placed his foot back onto Raki's chest.

Raki had a hard time seeing through the blood that covered his eyes, but he could make out the man's figure.

"Do you know how much force it takes to rip off a human arm?" Asked the man.

Raki stared at him with pure hatred, "You...Won't...break me…" he growled between gritted, yet broken teeth.

"Well I'm sure you didn't know anyways… so now we're going to find out!" The man began pulling on Raki's arm with inhuman strength.

After a few seconds Raki was filled with an incredible amount of pain. Suddenly he began hearing his right shoulder popping loudly.

Pop

Pop

Pop

"AHHHHH!" He yelled out. Raki felt his arm dislocate. And the man began pulling harder "I told you…"

Raki felt the flesh in his shoulders begin to tear apart.

"I WOULD BREAK YOU!"

With those four words Raki felt his flesh tear off of itself.

He screamed out in pain as the man Ripped his arm off.

Raki began to Hyperventilate.

His arm had just been torn off of his body.

He was bleeding badly.

His luck had finally run out….

He was going to die...

"It's time for the other arm now!" Said the man.

Once again the man placed his foot on Raki's shoulder and pulled on his remaining arm.

In seconds Raki's left arm was torn off.

"YOU SADISTIC FUCK!" Raki strained his voice as he screamed at the man.

"Kid… I am so much worse…" said the man with a smile.

Raki's life began to flash before his eyes. "GOD! Please help me!" he cried out. He thought about Clare, he thought about how he failed at keeping his promise, he thought about all the time he had lost, he thought about everything the two of them went through. "CLARE!" He cried out loud. The man looked down at Raki, "Ooh, who's that your yelling out for?" he asked. "CLARE PLEASE HELP ME!" he cried out once again. "Whatever… it doesn't matter… your going to die anyways." The man pointed his pistol at Raki's dismembered yet still breathing body. "Goodnight!" he said cheerfully.

Just before he pulled the trigger he stopped moving. He began making a choking noise. The man's throat began bleeding. Between tears Raki was able to make out a small figure standing behind him. The man fell to his knees and died. Raki looked up and there he saw her, the girl who had entered special forces with him. "Raki!" she cried out. She ran over to where Raki lay.

She sat him upright and held him close. "I'm so sorry! I wasn't fast enough!" She cried. "It's...okay…" He muttered.

"Raki… Please don't die!" She pleaded. Raki shook his head, "It's too late…" he said. "I need you to promise me something…" He whispered. "What is it?" asked the girl. "Please… find the Claymore known as Clare… number 47 in the organization...and tell her…" he paused. "Tell her that I love her… and that I'm sorry I broke our promise…" he whispered. "Promise me… you will do this…" He said between small gasps for air.

"I promise…" said the girl

He began to feel his life slowly fade away, he was in incredible pain. After everything he went through, after all of the pain and loss. After all of the bullets sent his way. After all of the lives he had taken… It was finally his turn… He finally faced a battle that he could not win. He was Dying…

His throat began to go dry, his hearing began to fade away. He could no longer feel his body. In that moment, he was afraid… afraid of death… afraid of losing everything he fought for…

Suddenly he heard a voice.

"_Raki…"_ he heard the voice say. Suddenly everything around him froze. "_I don't know if you can hear me, but if you can I need you to listen!"_ He recognized that voice! It was Clare! "_What your seeing...it isn't real! None of it is! You aren't anywhere where you can be hurt… you are here with me. You are safe. I AM real, and this-"_ He felt a familiar warmth Wrap around his body."_THIS is real, you can't be hurt, you are safe…" _The Voice said. "Clare…" he whispered.

Suddenly Raki felt at peace, the hell around him disappeared, he was once again surrounded by darkness. Slowly the world… the REAL world began to fade back into existence. He looked up, all seven of the warriors were surrounding him, and Clare was sitting on her knees directly in front of him. "Are you okay!" She asked.

Raki didn't say anything, he just stared. Suddenly he dove at her, he wrapped his arms around her and refused to let go. She had brought him out of hell and back into the light, and from then on he knew, that no matter what he was, no matter how strong he became, she would always be his savior...

_**Authors other note:**_ Hey earlier did I say "Fight scene" Well I meant Brutal murder scene... 0_0... anyways, allow me to clear some stuff up. YES Raki's part of the story was a legit memory, (well, more like a

flashback...) And no, he does NOT have robot arms. And also, regarding that girl with the black hair. I know I only said it once, so in case you missed it, she was a stunt, that means she was from Raki's world. And I also wanted to go into more detail about how her and Raki knew each other, but, for reasons already said, I don't have time, so I will go into detail about that later... Anyways, don't forget to comment, you don't need an account, it can be completely anonymous. Commenting helps out a lot, it helps keep me motivated and It also helps my writing. Anyways, I'll post again soon, Peace out. (P.S The next chapter is gonna have nice happy things in it, instead of... you know... brutal dismemberment... so stick around.)


	6. Sacrifice pt2

**_Disclaimer:_ I do not own Claymore**

_**Authors note: **__Okay, so this is technically a continuation of the last chapter, and it was originally only meant to cover a couple of things but then I decided to make it longer... Like... A LOT longer. Anyways, the next Chapter is probably going to come out next week, because it's summer now and I am free. Anyways, this goes over a few things that weren't well explained in the last chapter...(Because I had finals and I released it before I was done...) Please review, it helps a lot. Anyways, the next chapter is going to be a lot happier, (A bit of fan service not gonna lie) Anyways, here is Chapter 5 part two, please enjoy._

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Miria

Miria watched in awe as Clare managed to bring the tortured child back to the real world.

Just moments earlier, seemingly out of nowhere, something triggered the young man into having a severe mental breakdown.

Miria had no Idea what set him off, earlier he had told the exact same story he was telling Clare to her with no problem at all. But it seemed as if explaining everything to Clare had some kind of affect on him.

Everyone stood still, without the slightest clue on what was happening to Raki. All until Deneve spoke up.

She told them all about Raki's current condition, and the hell he was going through. Although this cleared up the situation, it still didn't provide any clear means of helping the boy.

All gathered around the young boy, the seven warriors stood dumbfounded, without a clue on how to help him.

They all stood perfectly still, until at last Clare moved in.

She fell to her knees and embraced the boy. She held him tightly, trying her best to calm him down. She began to speak to him, softly and quietly. Miria was barely able to make out what she was saying, but it sounded to her like, "You're safe… you can't be hurt"

Miraculously, it seemed to be working. Raki's breathing became steady and he stopped shaking so violently.

About a minute later he had regained complete awareness of his surroundings.

He sat upright, and looked directly at Clare. After about 2.1 seconds, he lunged in at her, and wrapped his arms around her. Embracing her tightly.

Clare slowly lifted her arms and returned his hug. For a small while, not a word was said. All was quiet. Once again, everything was peaceful.

Miria was not 100% sure what the two of them were thinking at the moment, but it seemed as if, to them at least, the rest of the world had washed away, leaving just the two of them together and alone.

After about a minute of awkward silence, Helen Decided to interject on their special moment…

_WHAP!_

Helen hurled a gigantic snowball at the two of them, hitting them both directly in the face.

"Okay you two, y'all can cuddle later, in the cave or something, I don't know, just not now!" She said with a shit eating grin. The two of them wiped the snow off of their faces and looked back at Helen, slightly embarrassed.

Clare focused all of her attention on Helen. "I am going to get you back for this, you know!" She announced with a playful, yet threatening tone.

Clare scooped up a handful of snow and threw it right at Helens smug face. But at the last second, Deneve moved her hand in the way and blocked the incoming snowball.

"That's no way to throw a snowball…" said Deneve. "Here! Let me show you!" Deneve then picked up her own snowball and threw it right at Clare, who was still on her knees.

Clare quickly dodged the snowball, but now it was heading on a direct course for Cynthia. The snowball hit Cynthia directly in the stomach.

"That's it! You're screwed now!" Shouted Cynthia. Picking up a snowball of her own and throwing it at Deneve.

Soon enough six of the seven ghosts were all engaged in a full on snowball war. With Clare, Yuma, and Cynthia, on one side. And Helen, Deneve, and Tabitha on the other.

Each side sending taunts and insults to the other, alongside their volleys of snowballs. All the while Miria watched with a slight smile. She would have joined in on the fight, but she didn't get distracted as easily as the others. Her attention had not shifted away from Raki, and his...troubling episode.

She could see Raki, who was sitting in the exact same place as before, not paying any attention to the snowball fight, but rather... to his arms?

"_That's strange…"_ she thought to herself. Eventually, her curiosity got the best of her, and she walked over to Raki.

"You remembered something didn't you?" she asked calmly. Raki slowly nodded his head yes. Miria extended her hand towards Raki, offering him help off the ground. "C'mon, follow me." she ordered.

Raki grabbed onto Miria's hand ,and she lifted him off the ground. Together they moved a slight distance away from the great battle that was happening behind them.

Miria stopped and turned to Raki. "I need you to tell me what you saw." She said. "Yesterday you told me that you would tell me if you remembered anything…"

Raki sat down on top of a fallen log. He looked up at Miria. "Miria… I don't know how to explain it…" He shook his head and looked back at his arms. "I remember it happening so vividly, I am a hundred percent certain that it did happen… but…" he paused. "But what?" asked Miria.

He looked back up at her. "It can't… it's not…" he fumbled over his words. "My memory… it isn't possible… It couldn't have happened…"

Miria pursed her lips. "Yet, you remember it…"

Raki shook his head again. "I don't understand how… but I remember it as if it were yesterday…" He grabbed his left forearm with his right hand. "It couldn't have happened…" he whispered to himself.

Miria placed her hands on Raki's shoulders. "I need you to tell me." She ordered "What happened? What did you remember? What's going on with your arms?" she asked

Raki closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I remember… when I was on the front… I remember my arms…" he shuddered at the thought. Finally he found the strength to just say it all at once. "My arms were… they were ripped off of my body… and I… I bled to death…" He tried to say simply, but fumbled over his words.

Miria continued to stare at him. She blinked her eyes a couple of times in disbelief. "You're lying right?" she asked. "What your saying… it's impossible! There is no way that you had your arms ripped off! I can see them! They are right there!" She gestured towards his arms. "You have to be lying…"

Raki opened his eyes and looked up at her. Miria looked in his eyes, and saw tears…

"Dear god… you're not lying…" she said in disbelief. "But you're just a human? There is no way that you could have regenerated your arms! Perhaps it was a delusion? Or a dream?"

Raki shook his head. "It wasn't a dream… and I've never been one for delusions…" he said. "Look, I don't know. I don't know if what I saw was real or not, but it matches up with my other memories perfectly-" "BUT YOU DIED!" interrupted Miria. "No one, and I mean NO ONE, hybrid or otherwise, EVER comes back from that."

"So you don't believe me?" asked Raki. Miria paused for a moment, she thought about Raki's words once again. "Look… I don't know… I'd need more evidence to prove that you're telling the truth…"

"Well how am I supposed to prove it?" asked Raki. Miria looked back at the other six warriors, who's snowball fight had just ended. "There may be a way…" she said focusing on one warrior in particular.

Quickly she looked back at Raki. "Listen up, I don't know if your telling the truth or not, but I don't want you telling the others about this until you and I have figured this whole thing out. Okay?" Raki nodded his head, "Okay…" he said. "Especially Clare, I don't think her reaction will be pleasant if you told her that you were...killed…" said Miria, hesitating over her last word.

"I promise!" Said Raki affirmatively.

Quickly Raki and Miria returned to the rest of the ghosts.

"There you are!" said Clare. "I was starting to wonder where you ran off to."

"Who won the snowball fight?" he asked.

Clare began to speak "No one really it was more like a t-"

"I DID" interrupted Helen with A grin. She moved closer to Clare and Raki. "I've never lost a snowball fight in my life!" she announced pridefully. "No one can beat me!" she said with a grin.

Raki looked back at her with a smile, for the last 5 years he had been training and fighting ranged battles, he mastered (among many other things) knowing when to take cover and when to attack, and that's all snowball fights were! Knowing when to take cover and when to attack.

"I bet I could win against every single one of you." he said confidently. Helen's eyes widened "Oh! Aren't you a cocky one? We'll just have to see about that!" Before the two of them could start another snowball fight, Miria decided to intervene.

"Okay! Fun's over! It's time to start training!" Announced Miria, hoping to get her team on task.

Helen rolled her eyes. "Ugghhh, you're no fun! I'm just trying to get to know the new guy is all!"

She looked back at Raki mischievously "Oh and Raki. I am going to annihilate you later!" She winked. Raki looked back at her. "You mean in the snowball fight, right?" he asked. Helen just chuckled and walked away.

Deneve and Tabitha watched this scene unfold from a distance. Deneve leaned in and whispered to Tabitha. "He's so fucked…" Tabitha looked back at Deneve. "You mean in the snowball fight too, right?" Deneve leaned away remaining completely silent.

Miria approached Raki and Clare. She could tell that Clare was completely unbothered by Helen's Cheeky comment. She couldn't tell whether or not Clare just didn't care ,or just didn't understand… probably the latter.

"You two, follow me, I want to see just what Raki is capable of." The two of them began to closely follow Miria.

Miria stared down at Raki's arms, he claimed that they had been ripped off… if that were true… why were his arms hanging from his sides? Using her yoma powers, she could sense Raki's arms. They were completely normal, every last bit of flesh was natural, everything from his bones to the blood that ran through them…

"Here." she said stopping in an area with ample room to train. She turned to Raki, "Did they ever teach you to fight with a sword?" she asked him.

"Yea…" he responded. "They taught _some_ of us to be proficient with Melee weapons." He said emphasizing the "_some"_ implying to Miria that he learned it in special forces. "But, it's not my best weapon…" he explained. "I am at my best when I have my rifle." he said. Clare and Miria looked at eachother. "What the hell is a rifle?" Asked Clare.

"In my duffle bag, you know the one I left the pod with?" said Raki. "You mean that cage thing that fell from the sky?" asked Clare. "Yea, that thing. In my duffle bag I had a rifle, along with some ammunition for it." Miria spoke up, "Like arrows?" she asked. "Kinda... I guess try to imagine a bow, now make it two hundred times more powerful, and three hundred times faster. That is essentially my prefered weapon."

"Is that what you hit my leg with?" asked Miria. Raki winced, he didn't like thinking about hurting Miria. "Umm… no, well, kinda, that was a smaller version of it. But it does the same thing."

"I see…" said Miria. "Raki, I think it's time that we see what you are made of…" She looked at Clare.

"Are you sure this is a good Idea?" asked Clare. "He might still be recovering from his… you know…"

Raki interrupted Clare, a little bit embarrassed "HEY, I'm fine! Don't worry about it." he said quickly.

"Sorry, I was just a little bit worried." she said.

Miria looked at Clare, "He should be fine…" assured Miria.

"Here Clare, why don't you put your Claymore down, let's see what Raki can do." Said Miria.

Clare did as she was told and threw her Claymore to the ground. Miria closed her eyes, "Now Raki, I understand how that sword may be too heavy for you to wield effectively, but for now I want to see if you can even lift it." She opened her eyes and immediately she was left awestruck at what she saw.

Her eyes widened at the sight of Raki holding up the enormous claymore with one hand. He had lifted it off the ground with ease and he was pointing it with one arm, perfectly straight at Miria. "Yea, I think I can lift it." he said with a smile. "I didn't know it was so light!" He said, twirling it effortlessly in his hand, clearly not understanding and appreciating the incredible feat he just pulled off. "I thought this thing was like… I don't know, thirty pounds!" He said with a smile. "It's forty…" said Clare wide eyed.

"Huh?" said Raki. "No it's not! I'd never be able to hold it like this if it were forty pounds!"

"Most humans can't with two…" said Miria.

"Raki…" Clare shook her head "What happened to you?"

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Clare

It was like he was a completely different person…

The young boy who had once followed her everywhere had changed so much.

She remembered how helpless and weak he had once been, she remembered how many times she had saved his life. She remembered him promising her that, one day, he would be strong enough to protect her…

Well it seems as if he had kept that promise… and it scared her.

No… she wasn't afraid OF Raki, she knew that he would never hurt her.

She was afraid FOR him.

Everything from the psychological breakdown to his incredible strength freaked her out. "_How did he come to be this way?" _she wondered. What could have happened to him? She knew that he had fought as a soldier, but what else happened? How did he obtain his strength?

Clare never got to hear Raki's complete story, he had stopped right in the middle of it. However, she did not want to ask him anymore, in fear that he would break down again. "_Perhaps I can ask Miria…" _she thought to herself. She looked up at Miria, who was approaching Raki in preparation for a sparring match.

The two of them raised their swords to meet each other. They both took a few steps toward each other, at last, they put their swords together, signifying the start of the match.

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Raki

Immediately Raki swiped his oversized sword towards Miria's midsection. Miria easily dodged the attack and counter attacked with an overhead swing.

Raki saw the attack coming and he raised his sword to block it.

Miria's sword hit Raki's and it glanced off, causing a few sparks.

The battle continued, both fighters swiping and blocking with their swords.

Soon enough the other five warriors all gathered around the battle, watching with great interest.

"Wow! The kids doing better than I thought he would… If I didn't know any better I would say that Miria was actually trying." Said Helen, walking up casually next to Clare with her sword on her shoulder.

The sparring match raged on, only growing more intense with each passing minute.

Raki swiped his sword at Mira, this time she didn't block it, instead she ducked underneath it.

Raki, let out a smirk, he finally found an opening.

Rather than stopping his sword and preparing for another attack, he let it continue to swing behind his back.

Raki twisted the Blade in his hand, pointing the sharp end upwards.

When the blade was directly behind him, he swung it up over his head.

It was an all or nothing strike, if he missed, he would be wide open. But if Miria tried to block it, her sword would fall out of her hand.

In seemingly slow motion, Raki swung the sword down at Miria.

But she didn't move…

The sword was less than a second away from hitting her over the head, but she wasn't even trying to lift her sword…

"_NO, WHAT IS SHE DOING?!" _thought Raki.

Time slowed to a crawl for Raki, the mere fractions of seconds seemed to take an eternity.

Mere millimeters before Raki's sword hit Miria's head, she moved.

Finally She moved at an incredible speed, not only did she dodge the sword, but she began to run around Raki.

Raki, saw her seem to slow down while she ran around him, he saw her move beside him.

Raki moved his head at the same pace of her slow run.

Raki looked at Miria in the eyes, they were glowing gold, and they stared right back at him too… they were wider than ever before…

"_What's up with that? She's not going THAT fast" _he thought to himself. He glanced behind Miria and saw the other six warriors… they were frozen in place, it seemed as if time had stopped for them. "_What? What's going on? Why aren't they moving?" _he thought. He turned his head towards Miria, all the while his body was completely still, his sword didn't even seem to be moving...

Miria was in complete shock as she saw Raki keep up with her speed, no one had ever done that, No Claymore, yoma, or awakened being had ever been able to keep up with her phantom speed.

Raki smiled at Miria, he didn't know it but he was moving at an incredible speed. "_Man, why does she look so shocked? I'm not moving THAT fast… if anything i'm moving really slowly!"_

At that moment Miria was so mesmerized by Raki's amazing speed that she tripped and stumbled to the ground.

Miria sat up, at a normal speed, only to see Raki pointing his sword straight at her throat.

He looked over at the others, they all had a confused look on their face.

"Hey… why are you all looking at me like that?" he asked. He looked back at Miria. Who was looking at Raki with complete terror.

Suddenly Raki felt very dizzy. He heard Miria speak up. "Raki… What are you?" he heard her say.

"What do you mean?" he said. Suddenly he heard a faint ringing in his ears.

"Ugh…I don't feel so good…" he said. Suddenly he fell to his knees and began coughing his lungs out.

The ringing in his ears became unbearable...

He looked up and saw that Miria was mouthing words at him.

He began coughing again. He covered his mouth with his left hand. When he moved it away from his mouth he saw that it was covered in blood.

"Oh, I dont think thats a good thing…" he mumbled to himself, becoming completely delerious of his surroundings.

"What the fuck…" he whispered as his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he collapsed to the ground.

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Raki

"They let a girl in?"

Raki, looked over to his right at the man who had just spoke. He was looking at one of his comrades, a man named David, who was also going through special forces selection.

"Not just any girl… a stunt!" Raki heard a voice approaching them from behind. He turned around and was faced with the commandant of the special forces selection process.

Raki and his comrade stood up at attention.

"As you were…" said the commandant.

"Sorry sir… we were just surprised, that's all." said David.

"Surprised by what? Me or the stunt Girl?" Asked the commandant.

"Well both…" said David.

"Well regarding the girl… I read her file, she was at the top of her class in basic training, and she has proven herself in battle…"

"How? She can't be older than thirteen!" Exclaimed Raki

"Why don't you go ask her yourself?" said the commandant.

Raki and David both looked across the dining hall at the girl, she was sitting alone at a clean table with no food in front of her. Raki looked her up and down. She seemed fairly scrawny, like she hadn't eaten in a while, she had spiky black hair and soft brown eyes. She was also fairly short too.

Raki and David both got up and approached the girl.

Raki and David stopped a few feet away from her. She looked up at both of them from her seat. For some strange reason, she sounded like she was sniffing the air around her.

"Hey, are you new he-" Raki began but was cut off immediately when the girl stood up and rammed her face into Raki's abdomen, wrapping her arms around him.

Raki, stunned looked at David, who looked just as confused as he was. "Uhh… what are you doing?" Asked Raki.

The girl held Raki tighter.

Raki looked at David, his eyes seemed to scream "_HELP ME"_ But David just smiled and shook his head. "I think she likes you!" he chuckled. "I guess you stunts gotta stick together huh?" said David.

At this remark Raki was filled with an overwhelming sense of embarrassment. He was embarrassed about who he was, he was embarrassed about where he was born, he hated being treated like a freak because of the location of his birth.

Raki felt a familiar sense of resentment fill him up. He looked down at the girl, with a sudden look of disgust, he pulled her off of him.

"Look, I don't know you, and you are kinda freaking me out, so please stop hugging me. Okay?"

With this the little girl looked up at Raki and cocked her head to the side. After a few seconds she backed away and sat back down, like nothing even happened.

Raki and David walked away from her. "What a freak." said David. "Yea, tell me about it, I mean did you see her just hug me? What was that all about!?" said Raki. "Yea, I don't know, But I would just keep my distance…" suggested David. "You're probably right…" said Raki

_**2 Days later…**_

Raki was utterly exhausted, he had never felt so much pain in his life. His whole body had gone completely numb, with each breath he took came a mountain of pain.

Raki was completing one of the hardest tests in the special forces selection process.

The test required him to run a full fifty miles, through rough terrain, with no road, AND he was fully geared, with a fully loaded 45 pound rucksack, a rifle, and full body armor. He had to do all of this in less than twenty four hours.

Raki had been running for 21 hours straight, all the while he had to navigate through rocky terrain and trails full of obstacles. "_Just six more miles!"_ he thought to himself.

Raki was being pushed to his breaking point, if he stopped and gave up he would be kicked out of special forces selection and forced to go back to the frontline. "_C'mon! Don't give up! You have too much to lose!"_ he shouted to himself in his head.

Raki was making good time, despite the fact that he felt utterly exhausted, he felt that he was completely void of all energy… he felt like he was running on fumes.

Suddenly he heard footsteps coming up behind him, and fast! "_WHAT? There is no way someone is catching up to me!? I've been moving far faster than all of the others!"_

He took a quick glance over his shoulder, and there he saw her, the girl with the black hair.

She didn't even appear to be sweating…

"_What the fuck!? How is she… she can't be!" _He watched in amazement as the little girl effortlessly caught up to him and began running beside him.

His jaw dropped, he was no longer focused on the trail, his full attention was on this little girl who was moving far faster than him with seemingly no effort at all.

_WHAP_

Raki tripped over a tree root which crossed the narrow trail that he was on.

He fell flat on his face… he lost his entire spirit… "_DAMN IT! I've been pushing my limit all day and still this little girl is kicking my ass! I'm so bad! I can't even run on this trail correctly!"_

He heard the little girls footsteps stop. He looked up and saw that she was extending a hand his way, trying to help him up.

Raki gritted his teeth. Now he was pissed. "_Who does this girl think she is! I don't need her help! I am going to finish this! And I am going to finish before her!" _Raki stood up on his own. He glared at the girl "I don't need your help…" he growled, before taking off running.

For the rest of the six miles he heard her footsteps just a few feet behind him.

Finally he reached the end, his arms were completely numb, he could barely hold up his rifle.

He approached the man who was keeping score. "Name" asked the man. "Raki…" said Raki. "Raki who?" asked the man. "That's it… just Raki." explained Raki. "Huh, so you must be a stunt…" Raki winced when he said that. "Rank?" asked the man. "Sergeant" said Raki. "Well congrats! You finished first, with a time of twenty two hours and elleven minutes…" said the man.

Raki walked away before he heard the girl give her name to the man. Raki didn't care about her name, he just wanted to rest.

Raki sat down a decent distance away from the small fire which stood at the end of the Race. Alone in the dark he opened his canteen and gulped down a large amount of water.

He heard small footsteps approach him, he knew who it was.

The little girl sat down beside Raki. "_Oh god please don't try to talk to me…" _he thought.

But what the girl did next was a million times worse. Seconds after sitting down, she leaned over and rested her head down on Raki's lap.

Raki jumped slightly at her strange action. "_Oh my god please no…" _he thought to himself.

Raki wanted to pull her off of him and move somewhere else, but he found that he simply lacked the energy to do it.

He looked down and saw that her eyes were closed, it was likely that she fell asleep on his lap.

"_That seems like a good idea…" _he thought. Raki leaned back and closed his eyes, sleeping never felt like such an amazing idea…

12 hours later…

The soldiers who managed to pass the test were finally celebrating their great victory. They were in the dining hall, drinking and partying, they didn't give two shits that it was 1:00 in the afternoon.

Raki and David slammed their mugs of beer together. Raki rarely drank, he knew he was incredibly underage on his home planet, but here? He was free to get drunk whenever he wanted. Yet for whatever reason he felt compelled to follow the rules of his home world.

While all of the other soldiers got completely wasted, he only had a few drinks. "C'mon man… ya- ya gots'ta drink more… ya got like- uh- fir'sht place- or sumting." Spoke david, clearly wasted.

"Nah, I think im good…" said Raki. He sat down at his table and glanced across the room. He saw the little girl, sitting alone, she wasn't looking at him.

After a few minutes he noticed her get up and walk into a back room alone. "_I wonder why she's doing that?"_ he thought.

A few minutes later he overheard a couple of drunk soldiers talking. "Oh… she totally like- like went in there ALL alone… Trust me! It's- It's gonna be great!" Raki overheard this… "_They're not talking about…"_ his thoughts were interrupted by the other soldier's words. "OH DUDE! I can't wait to crush some puss!"

"_They better not do what I think they are about to do…" _he thought. A few moments later he saw them walk across the room and enter the backroom. "_Well… that's not my damn problem… if she's such a hotshot then she can handle them herself…" _he thought to himself. After about two seconds his conscience took over. "_FUCK! I have to help the little brat!"_ Raki stood up. He looked at David, "Here hold my beer…" he said.

David Grabbed Raki's mug, then he proceeded to immediately drop it. "Whoops!" he said with a stupid look on his face.

Raki hurried to the door which led to the backroom. "_Damn it! I hope I'm not too late!" _he thought.

He opened the door.

Inside he found the two soldiers on top of the little girl.

One of them was holding her down and covering her mouth, all the while the other was trying to pull her pants off.

Raki heard the girls muffled screams, she looked over at him, her eyes seemed to beg for help.

"GET OFF OF HER!" Roared Raki.

The soldier who was attempting to pull her clothes off turned around and faced Raki.

"Oh… if it isn't sergeant BUZZKILL" said the soldier with a bitter look. "Leave it to the stunt to ruin everything!"

Raki flashed a look of pure hatred at the man. "I'm going to let that go… IF you leave the girl alone!"

"Or else what? Is the wittle stunt gonna kick my ass? Go ahead tough guy! Why don't you try it!" said the man.

Raki accepted his challenge. He walked over to the man. "Oh, look he's walking over here! Ooh I'm soo scare-" the man's snotty remarks were cut off when Raki sent a swift kick to his face, knocking him out instantly. Raki then proceeded to stomp on the man's unconscious body.

Raki let his guard down, and he completely forgot about the other thug in the room.

The other soldier tackled Raki to the ground with a knife. He got on top of Raki and held the knife over his chest.

Using all the strength left in his arms, Raki held the knife still above his chest, but he was still fatigued from yesterday's test, and gravity was working against him.

Raki began to lose his strength, and the Knife inched closer and closer to his chest.

Finally the knife's tip just barely touched his chest. "_Fuck, is this really how I die!?" _he thought. When suddenly he heard a loud _TANG_. He watched the man go limp and fall over. When the man fell over he looked behind him and saw the little girl holding a frying pan. She clearly hit him over the head with it.

Once again she extended a hand down to Raki, offering him help off the ground. This time Raki accepted her help. "Thank you…" he said as he got to his feet.

He looked down at the girl. "Are you alright? Did they hurt you?" he asked, showing genuine concern.

The girl looked up at Raki with tears in her eyes. She let out a small whine and lunged at Raki, wrapping her arms around him tightly.

This time Raki returned her hug. "Hey… you're gonna be okay."

Raki knelt down, bringing himself to her level. "Huh… I guess us stunts really do have to look out for each other…" he said. The girl nodded her head.

"Okay little one… If i'm gonna be looking out for you… We should probably know eachothers names…" he explained. "My name is Raki! What's yours?" he asked. The little girl mumbled something into his shirt.

"Huh, what's that? I couldn't understand you." he said. The little girl moved her head back, she smiled at Raki, "My name is Priscilla." She said softly. "Well Priscilla, I guess I'll be looking out for you for now on. Okay?" Priscilla nodded her head.

"I promise… I won't let anyone hurt you again… no matter what! And I always keep my promises…" Said Raki

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Miria

"What the hell was that?" asked Helen. "Did you just trip on purpose? Or What?"

"Did any of you see that?" asked Miria.

"See what?" asked Clare. "And what happened to Raki!?"

Miria was surprised that no one saw Raki's head track her movement perfectly.

She decided to keep Raki's speed to herself.

"He's completely exhausted and dehydrated…" said Helen.

"How? He was drinking water just before we go here!" said Clare

"Hey, don't ask me! I just look at the symptoms and give my best guess!" said Helen

"You are literally the worst medic ever…" said Clare

"Okay… I think that's enough training for one day…" said Miria "We need to get this kid back to the cave…" she said

"And besides… saint's day is on two days, if you guys still want to celebrate it you'd best spend tomorrow preparing…" explained Miria.

"Ahh Yea! I LOVE saint's day!" said Helen.

"HELEN! Raki needs help!" shouted Clare.

"Oh yea I should probably do that…" Said Helen.

**_Authors_**_**Note:**__ Yea Helen's a shit medic. Anyways, I just wanted to go over one little detail... because, it's kinda obscure. In the first Part (Miria's part) it says " _Using her yoma powers, she could sense Raki's arms. They were completely normal, every last bit of flesh was natural, everything from his bones to the blood that ran through them…" HIS ARMS AREN'T ROBO ARMS. THEY ARE 100% ORGANIC FRESH NATURAL AND GMO FREE. Anyways, I just wanted to emphasize that part. Please Review and tell me what y'all want to see next.


	7. Saints Day

**_Disclaimer:_ I do not own Claymore**

_**Authors Note:**__** Alright new chapter, gotta address a couple of things. I got some comments and I am glad for each and every single two of them...**_

_**Alright first one... "**__Possible Harem Route?__**" No...sorry for those of you who like Harems, I get that they are fun to read sometimes but it really **__**doesn't**__** match well with this story. I want this story to be fun to read, but at the same time it's not meant to be happy all the time. Claymore was a dark show, and when I started this my full intentions were to follow the lead of that show but still be fun to read, and Harems don't really match that too well... **_

_**Okay second Comment, (and second part of first comment.) **_**_"_**_the ghosts would only use their powers when absolutely necessary as it may reveal their presence to other organisation warriors so miria wouldn't use her phantom speed for simple training_**_" ._** **_ ( º﹃_****_º) oh shit... _**_**Well, when I read this at first I thought "Welp this is gonna cause a bunch of plot holes later..." but now that I read it, I think I might use it as a way to move the plot forward, but then again that would just make the issue more real and it would be totally against Miria's character... So I have no Idea what i'm gonna do just yet... I don't really have any excuse other than "I forgot" and "I should probably get a beta reader...". **_

_**As for the narrative commitment of Raki being able to keep up with Miria's phantom speed... I know that it means he's got superhuman speed and perception, I get that, but it knocked him out and nearly destroyed his body to do what he did, (so he's got a good limiting factor) but real talk... Raki would be useless if he didn't have some kind of ability, now I am not gonna put his abilities on par with a Claymore, but I at least want him to be able to fight for himself and not almost die in the first 30 seconds. (Cough Cough) Priscilla (Cough Cough) As for HOW he got his powers... you just have to wait... sorry...**_

_**Okay, now to address the actual chapter. I will not lie, this chapter is kinda just a filler (fan service) chapter. It has romance in it if you are here for that, but if you aren't here for that stuff you can skip to the very bottom, I have a section on THE VIPER, it's actually the only important thing plot wise in the entire chapter, so if you actually can't stand the romantic stuff you can skip to the bottom, I promise you won't miss anything important. With that said. Please Review, it's 100% free and we all love free stuff, and I hope y'all enjoy.**_

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Helen

"I don't get it…"

Helen was back in the cave, attempting to heal Raki who seemed to be suffering from severe dehydration, heat exhaustion, and god knows what else.

"You said he was drinking water before this right?" asked Helen.

"Yea, I watched him… do you have any idea what's happening to him? Is he going to be okay?"

"He appears to be suffering from dehydration and heat exhaustion. And a great deal of stress must have been put on his lungs for him to cough up blood like that… But none of those options seem remotely possible... So in truth… I have no Idea!" explained Helen.

"You really have no clue what you're doing do you?" Said Clare

"Yea… it's almost like I have no real medical training and you guys just assigned me to be the team's medic because I can sew and I know what lungs do!" Said Helen in her most sarcastic tone.

"Okay, Clare, why don't you go and make yourself useful and help Miria with moving? I can't do this with you breathing down my neck." Said Helen.

"I don't know…" spoke Clare

"Hey, I know you're worried, but he is in safe hands!" assured Helen.

"Yea for some reason I don't believe that…" muttered Clare under her breath.

"What was that?" asked Helen.

"Nothing!" quickly responded Clare.

"Mmm-hmm, that's what I thought!" said Helen.

Clare left the room to go find Miria.

"Okay space dude, just what is it with you and spontaneously passing out? I swear for like two thirds of the time you've been here you've just been knocked out!"

After about 10 minutes of trying to forcing cold water down Raki's throat and digging through her mind on how else to treat the boy, Helen gave up.

"I have no Idea what I'm doing…" sighed Helen, sitting down.

After a few minutes of just staring at Raki, Helen decided to take a new approach.

She grabbed a bucket of cold water and threw it right into Raki's face.

At last Raki began to stir.

"Wha- What happened? Where am I?" asked Raki.

"Oh hey! Look who's up!" said Helen cheerfully. "Ya know, I probably should have tried that earlier now that I think about it…"

"Wait… so what happened?" shivered Raki, who was soaked in cold water.

"What do you think happened dummy? You passed out! Again!" Explained Helen.

"What? I did?" He shivered "Where's Clare?" he asked.

"Ugh… you two…" groaned Helen. "She's off helping Miria, were moving out of this Cave and into a nice manor! It's just in time for saints day too, which is in like... two days."

"Wait! Saint's day is in two days!?" said Raki. "I haven't celebrated that in five years!"

"Yea…" said Helen. "You know kid... well… I guess you're not really a kid anymore, but still… I don't really know that much about you… you just kinda, fell from the sky one day and ever since then it's just been all hush-hush ya know?"

Raki looked down, "You'd have to ask Miria about all that, she didn't even really want me telling Clare until just yesterday." said Raki.

"UGGHHH, I hate secrets! Especially when I'm not in on it!" groaned Helen. "Okay, well besides all that, how are you holding up?"

Raki shivered. "Well, for starters, I'm wet and cold, but other than that I feel fine." said Raki.

"Yea… that's my fault…" said Helen. "Say… do you want me to warm you up?" she asked with a sly grin.

Raki tensed up. "Uhhh, well, ummm…." stammered Raki. "...sure… I guess…" he said awkwardly.

Helen approached Raki, she sat down beside him and wrapped her arms around him. Raising her body temperature.

"So what's up with you and Clare?" she asked casually.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well, I'm just trying to figure out what's going on between you two. You know, she's a girl… you're a guy… you see where I'm going with this?" said Helen.

"Oh… Um, nothing I think… Why? Has she said anything about that?" he asked.

"Truthfully…" Helen shrugged her shoulders. "I don't really know. I mean, you were kinda all she talked about for the last five years, so I know you mean a lot to her, but I can't tell if she's in love with you, or just sees you like you're her son or something…"

Raki looked down and sighed at the sound of Helen's last comment. She could tell that the thought of Clare thinking about him as her son bothered the hell out of him.

"Do you love her? Like, _love her_, love her?" she asked.

"I...I don't know… I mean, ever since she saved me when I was younger… she's just been my everything. For so long I just looked at her as my savior, but when we split up I started feeling different about her, I can't explain it, but I just felt like I wanted more… I wanted to be more than what we already were…" explained Raki.

"So you do?" said Helen.

"I don't know… I don't want to say I do if she doesn't feel the same way about me…" said Raki.

"Ahhh! I see." said Helen. Helen went silent for a moment… it was time to make a tough decision…On one hand she could tell Raki to give up, that Clare looked at him like a son, she could have the mysterious space dude all to herself, he could free her from her constant boredom in the north. On the other hand… she could try to set the gears of love in motion and assist Raki in his pursuit of Clare, they would be much happier... at her expense of course...

Helen made up her mind. "Damnit…" she muttered under her breath. "Well…" she started. "Clare is a very difficult person to read, even by warrior standards. But I honestly can't see why she wouldn't feel the same way towards you…" assured Helen.

"What do you mean?" asked Raki.

"Wow, you really are dense aren't you?" grinned Helen. Raki just looked up at her confused. "Why don't you go take a look in the mirror, then come back here and tell me what I mean?"

"What are you saying?" asked Raki.

"Huh, you're really gonna make me say it aren't you?" Helen rolled her eyes. "Fine!" she groaned. "I guess I'm trying to say that Clare would be lucky to have you. Maybe it's because I haven't seen another man in five years, but trust me, if you made all the right moves, she would be all yours."

"What makes you so sure?" he asked.

She sighed. "Well, for starters...you aren't that bad looking… I mean, you look like you could throw a boulder, AND you are very mysterious!" She laughed. "Some cage thing just fell from the sky one day and BOOM a space dude pops out!"

Raki tensed up even more than he already was, he began to feel very awkward inside of the warriors close embrace. "Well… thanks I guess…" he said awkwardly.

"Yea, just don't tell Clare I said that…or any other part of this conversation…" she said with a smirk.

Raki shuffled a small bit. "Yea I won't…" he said. "Oh, and Helen…"

"Hmm?" she said looking right at him.

"I guess… you're not that bad looking either…" he said very awkwardly. He was trying to be polite.

"Yea...you got looks going for you, but everything else needs A LOT of work…" she said unwrapping her arms from around him.

"You are never going to win her over if you talk to girls like THAT." she chuckled standing up.

"Well what am I supposed to do?" he asked.

She laughed, "I guess I can give you a few pointers…" she smiled. "Okay, first lesson! Confidence is the key to fucking everything!" she winked at him "And I mean that in both ways…" she said quietly.

"That sound easy." said Raki.

"Yea, until you actually have to make a move!" she chided. "You are probably just gonna be standing there like an idiot with your arms crossed not saying what you mean because you let your nerves and conscience get to you." she looked down and uncrossed her arms quickly.

"Do you know of the five second rule?" asked Helen.

"It's okay to eat your food within five seconds of it touching the ground?" he asked, wincing slightly.

Helen stared at him, she closed her eyes and let a long exhale go out her nose.

She put her hand on her forehead, "I knew he was going to fucking say that…" she muttered under her breath.

She looked back at Raki. "Okay, two things! One: that is really gross! Two: What the hell does food have to do with confidence?"

"I don't know…" he admitted.

"Just… nevermind… the five second rule I'm talking about right now is this: If you are going to do something risky, you have five seconds to act until your nerves get the best of you." she said.

"I guess that makes sense…" said Raki.

"I've got a few more things to teach you before you're good to go." said Helen.

"I'm ready to learn!" Said Raki eagerly.

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Clare

"Why do we need all this stuff again?" asked Cynthia, who was with Clare, standing a small distance away from their new home, watching Deneve, Yuma, and Tabitha begin their day long journey to the nearest town in search of food and ale.

"Helen, and Deneve practically begged for it, they said saint's day wouldn't be fun without it…" responded Clare

"Okay, so let me get this straight… they want THAT much Alcohol on a holy holiday?" said Cynthia.

"Yes." said Clare sternly

"Isn't that a little… disrespectful?" asked Cynthia

"Perhaps… but I think you forget that we are considered unholy abominations by the church." Said Clare.

"I try not to think about that…" frowned Cynthia.

"Why is that?" asked Clare

"Because I don't agree with it! Most of us had no Idea what we were getting ourselves into when we signed up! And others had no say in the matter!" Snapped Cynthia.

Clare looked back at Cynthia with surprise. She never got this worked up about something, she was always the polite one.

"Sorry… I didn't mean to snap at you like that…" apologized Cynthia. "I just don't understand why everyone just immediately thinks about us like that."

"Not everyone…" said Clare looking in the direction of the cave, where Raki was resting. It was surprising close, only a mile and a half away, and from where Clare was standing, she could see it easily. Cynthia followed Clares gaze and immediately realized who she was talking about.

Clare let out a faint smile, remembering how Raki had followed her around when she visited his hometown. He wasn't afraid of her in the least, when he looked at her, he didn't see a monster like so many others did. He saw a human girl…

Back then… when he followed her around, was it out of sheer naivety and ignorance of who she really was ,or was it because he truly knew and accepted her, despite her demons…

"_No…" _she thought to herself. "_Back then, he couldn't have know… he followed me because he didn't know the truth. He would have never accepted me if he knew about me, how could he? How can anyone look past this curse, this demon, this stigma…" _

Clare let out a sad sigh and looked down at herself. "_No human could ever love an abomination…" _thought Clare.

"Hey what's wrong?" asked Cynthia

Clare looked back at Cynthia. "Unlike you and so many of our comrades, I knew exactly what was going to happen when I signed up with the organization… I knew full well that I was giving up my humanity, so unlike the majority of our comrades, I have no excuse…" said Clare sadly, looking back down.

"And you think that makes you any less human to him?" said Cynthia.

Clare looked up again with a stunned look on her face. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"I think you know what I'm saying Clare…" giggled Cynthia, "It's written all over your face."

Clare looked embarrassed, "I don't know what you are talking about…" she said.

"Clare… you're not a monster, despite what some narrow minded people might think. And I know that Raki doesn't think you are one either." assured Cynthia.

Clare went silent, she thought about Cynthia's words. She turned her head and looked away.

"It's obvious that you two care about each other a lot." said Cynthia

"He won't feel the same way when he realizes how I really am…" she said gloomily.

"Hey wait, remember when you told me about how you almost awakened in the cathedral? You told me that he held onto you and wouldn't let go. Clare, he saw you almost awaken, it doesn't get much worse than that! He saw the ugly side of you, and he's still there, waiting for you." said Cynthia. "If he cared about your yoma side then he would have left you in that cathedral! But he didn't! He doesn't care if you are a hybrid he only cares about you."

Clare thought about Cynthia's words. "Maybe you're right..." said Clare. "But then there is still this..." said Clare gloomily, looking down at her body.

Cynthia followed Clare's eyes "Oh… that…" said Cynthia

"It's not something you can just look past… it's the stigma we bear, it shows that there is something unholy inside of us… something that can't be loved…" she said coldly.

Cynthia didn't know what to say next, part of her wanted to say "_If he can't look past that then maybe he doesn't deserve her"_ but she knew that wasn't true, even fellow warriors have a hard time looking past their stigma. She couldn't blame him… no one really could.

"Maybe… he could look past it…" said Cynthia.

"Unlikely…" responded Clare coldly.

Cynthia sighed. "Well… you might as well try!" she grinned. "But my advice… be open and up front about it… it's best not to wait until the last moment."

Clare stared back at Cynthia with her usual emotionless demeanor. "Thank you, I will keep that in mind." deadpanned Clare.

After a long silence, Clare spoke up. "We should head back to the cave, I want to check in on Raki…"

The two of them turned back and headed for the cave.

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Helen

"Alright just remember everything I told you and you should be A-okay!" grinned Helen.

"Thank you Helen." said Raki

"It's nothing." responded Helen. "Oh and Raki…"

"Yea?" he asked

"Don't do anything too stupid." she said.

Raki chuckled, "We'll see…" he said, turning away from her.

As Raki was about to leave, it dawned on her, she forgot to tell him the most important piece of information.

"OH SHIT! RAKI WAIT!" she called after him.

Raki turned around and walked back to where Helen was. "Yes?" he asked her.

"I forgot to tell you something really important…" she said.

"Well what is it?" he asked.

"Umm...well it's kinda… my comrades and I kinda have this thing… uhh… hmm…" she bit her lip awkwardly.

"What is it?" asked Raki.

"I can't really explain it… you just kinda have to see it…" she said awkwardly.

"Well show me." said Raki

"Well that's the thing, I can't really show you… Dammit where's Deneve! She would have no problem showing you!" said Helen.

"Why can't you show me?" he asked.

"I mean… I can… but…" she sighed and gave up.

"Okay, but you seriously owe me!" she said.

"Okay…" he said, not realizing what was about to happen.

"Here goes nothing…" she said to herself. "_1...2...3...4…"_

She ripped the top of her outfit off in full view of Raki.

Raki immediately covered his eyes, not getting a good look at Helen. "Helen What are you doing!?" he said, with his eyes covered.

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Miria

"Helen what are you doing!?" Miria heard Raki yell this from another chamber in the cave.

The Cave was of small size, and it was barely big enough to accommodate the seven of them, it was split up into 3 chambers each roughly the size of a bedroom. When you entered the cave you were greeted with the main chamber, but off to either side there was another room. Raki and Helen were in the room to the left.

Originally for the new house, Miria was supposed to get her own room, Deneve had her own room, Helen slept in the room attached to Deneve's, Yuma and Tabitha shared a room, and Clare and Cynthia were supposed to share, but since Raki was found by Clare, Cynthia now shared with Yuma and Tabitha now shared with Miria, leaving Clare sharing with Raki.

Anyways, back to Miria. "Helen what are you doing!?" she heard Raki call out from the cave's other chamber.

"_Knowing Helen that can't be good…"_ thought Miria. "_Perhaps she is pranking him…"_ wished Miria.

"DAMMIT RAKI JUST OPEN YOUR EYES AND LOOK!" she heard Helen yell out.

"_Is she trying to put something in his eyes?" _she thought.

"I'M NOT GONNA LOOK AT YOUR BREASTS!" shouted Raki.

"_Oh… she's showing him that…"_ she thought. "_Maybe Helen should have asked Clare first…"_ she thought.

"THEN DON'T LOOK AT THEM! LOOK AT EVERYTHING ELSE!" shouted Helen

"THAT DOESN'T SOUND ANY BETTER!" Responded Raki.

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!"

"PUT YOUR CLOTHES ON"

"NOT UNTIL YOU LOOK"

This was getting ridiculous…

Miria walked by their room.

She got a quick glance in. Inside she saw a topless Helen trying to pry Raki's hand off of his eyes.

"DAMN...YOU...HOW...ARE YOU...SO...STRONG…" strained Helen, who was almost succeeding at removing Raki's hands from his face.

"Helen, you better hurry it up, Clares gonna be back any second." said Miria.

"I'm trying!" said Helen.

"Wait Miria… you're okay with this?!" said Raki in disbelief, still covering his eyes.

"I think she should have asked Clare first, but other than that yes." responded Miria

"Dammit Raki just open your eyes!" said Helen.

"Do what she says Raki." said Miria walking away. "I'm gonna go try to stall Clare, the last thing we need is more fighting…" said Miria.

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Raki

"_Did she just tell me to look at Helens…" thought Raki._

At last Raki gave up. "Fine…" he said awkwardly.

Raki removed his hands and opened his eyes and looked straight at Helens…

"Uhh...ummm…" he said awkwardly, glancing at each one. "What am I supposed to be looking at?" he asked while staring awkwardly at her chest.

" NO DON'T LOOK AT THAT! LOOK AT THE UGLY THING!" she shouted.

"Ugly thing? Uhh...Are you talking about that scar?" asked Raki.

"OF COURSE I'M TALKING ABOUT SCAR DUMBASS!" retorted Helen.

"What that!? That's what you're making such a huge deal about?" said Raki.

Helen's eyes widened. "Making such a huge deal about!? Does this not repulse you? Not even the slightest bit?"

"Helen I have literally had blood and guts rain down on me! For the past five years, it would be a miracle to find someone without massive stitches or scars. I didn't even really notice your scar at first! A little scar like that means nothing to me! I watched people get torn in half for breakfast, trust me your making this a bigger deal than it should be!"

"A little scar!? Raki I will have you know this LITTLE SCAR runs ALL the way down our bodys!"

"Yea? Well I've seen dudes walk around and fight with half of their face missing! Believe me when I say that compared to half of the shit i've seen I could care less!"

Helen stopped, she had no Idea how to react. She blinked a couple of times in surprise. She looked back at Raki. "So this doesn't bother you… at all…"

"I mean, it's not pretty, but from what I've seen I could really care less…" responded Raki who was trying his best to keep his eyes locked onto Helen's eyes, and not her breasts.

Helen quickly came back to her senses and threw her top back on. "Sorry, it's just that when anyone sees it they are almost always repulsed and disgusted… all of our body's are like this, even Clares." she said awkwardly. She paused for a moment, thinking about what Raki said. "What did you mean by '_I have literally had blood and guts rain down on me?_" asked Helen.

Raki remained dead silent. "Uhh… nevermind...umm…"

"Just what have you been doing over these past five years?" asked Helen "C'mon I just showed you THAT and you won't even tell me the smallest thing?"

"Okay! I'll think about it." responded Raki.

Just then they heard footsteps approaching the room. Clare turned the corner and walked in, flanked by Cynthia and Miria.

"Raki! You're awake! How are you feeling?" she asked.

"I feel fine!" responded Raki.

"Okay good, don't make me worry like that!" she said. She then glanced over in Helens direction, and shot her a confused look. "Helen, why is your top on backwards?"

"_Oh shit…"_ thought Raki.

Helen tensed up, "oh… I threw water on the kid and some splashed back onto me so I changed in the other room… I didn't notice it was on backwards…" said Helen calmly.

"That sounds a lot like you…" said Cynthia

"Watch it!" growled Helen.

The room was silent once again, all five people glanced at each other.

Finally Helen broke the silence. "So Raki! How about that snowball fight? Didn't you say you could take us all on?"

Raki grinned back at Helen, "Yes I did!" he said confidently.

"Hey, he can't do it alone! Let him get at least one teammate!" said Cynthia.

"Okay…" said Helen eying Clare. "Why don't Clare and her Boy toy team up?"

Clare and Raki looked at eachother. "I'm okay with that…" said Clare.

"Alright! Let's do this!" said Helen jubilantly.

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Clare

"Remind me again…" (Whoosh) a snowball flew overhead "How do you know if you won a snowball fight?" asked Clare.

"You just kinda know…" replied Raki, quickly standing up and throwing another snowball.

"That makes no sense…" said Clare.

"C'mon we gotta move! Helen and Miria are trying to distract us from seeing Cynthia coming up on our right flank."

The duo quickly ran from their hiding spot and moved left behind some trees. While they ran Raki threw a snowball and nailed Helen in the gut.

"You're better than I thought kid!" she yelled out at him.

"Where's Miria?" asked Clare

"She's approaching our left flank, and Cynthia is still on our right." responded Raki

"_It's amazing how he is able to keep track of their movements like that…" _Clare thought to herself. "Wait… so we are surrounded?" asked Clare

"Pretty much, we just have to outflank the people flanking us." said Raki calmly.

"How do we do that?" asked Clare.

"Follow me!" he said quickly.

The two of them turned around and ran a small ways, Raki's plan was to move back, then turn and flank Cynthia. But as they tried to fall back, they saw that they were reaching the edge of the hill they were on top of, meaning that they couldn't fall back any further and they couldn't outflank Cynthia or Miria.

"Shit… they have us trapped!" he said "Damn, Miria is a really good strategist…" he said out loud.

"Yea tell me about it-" Clare was cut off when Raki noticed a volley of snowballs flying at an incredibly high speed straight at Claire's head.

"LOOK OUT!" he yelled as he dove at her, tackling her to the ground.

The two of them rolled off to the side and began rolling down the hill, all the while they held onto each other tightly.

As they were rolling down the hill, Helen, flanked by Miria and Cynthia, ran to the edge of the hill and watched the two of them roll down the hill. "Hey! That's out of bounds!" cried Helen. "I think we win!" said Cynthia with a smile.

The three watched the two roll to the bottom of the hill, "Aww… thats so cute…" said Helen.

Clare and Raki reached the bottom of the hill quickly, not letting go of each other. Finally they stopped rolling. When they came to a stop, Raki and Clare were still holding onto each other, but Raki was on his back and Clare was on top of him.

When they opened their eyes and looked at eachother, Clare couldn't help but smile down at Raki. Raki saw this and began laughing, Clare in response began giggling herself.

"_What am I doing? I haven't laughed like this since I was with Teresa…" _she thought to herself.

Clare looked down at Raki with wonder in her eyes, he seemed to have changed since she saw him yesterday, "_Is it just me… or does he seem taller?" _she thought to herself.

Her thoughts were interrupted when a snowball landed just beside her...then another one...then more...soon enough it was raining snowballs.

"TAKE THAT!" shouted Helen, throwing more snowballs at the duo.

Clare and Raki stood up and ran deeper into the trees.

"Should we go after them?" asked Cynthia watching them disappear into the tree line.

"Nah… let's let them have their moment…" replied Helen.

Miria remained quiet and stared at the Helen and Cynthia.

"I think we're good…" said Raki. "Did we win?" Asked Clare. Raki looked at her and laughed, "What? Hell no, we fell out of bounds! But if we didn't we totally would have won!"

Clare giggled again, "Yea, I guess that's true…" "_Did I just laugh again?"_ she thought to herself. She stared at Raki once again, trying her best to keep her emotionless composure, but there was something about his smile that gave her a warm feeling.

"Do you want to sit down?" Asked Clare, for no particular reason.

"Sure." said Raki, "Where?"

Clare turned around and found a spot on the ground which was untouched by snow, due to a large tree blocking the ground. She sat down, "Here, by me is good." she said quietly.

Raki paused for a moment, then proceeded to move to Clare and sit beside her. The two of them were very close together.

Clare turned her head and looked up at Raki, there was so much she wanted to say to him, but she couldn't find the right words to use, so she remained silent. She look down a little and saw that Raki was still covered in snow.

"You are covered in snow…" she said.

"Oh… yea, I am…" he said wiping the snow off of himself.

"You must be cold…" said Clare.

Before Raki could give a response, Clare wrapped one arm around the back of his neck and then she interlocked her hands over his chest, she then leaned her head down on his shoulder. "I'll warm you up…" she said.

Raki and Clare both knew that Raki wasn't all that cold…

Raki began counting in his head. He then put one hand on hers, and with the other he wrapped it around her back, holding her closely.

He looked down at her face, she was looking up at him with kind eyes. He had never seen her like this before, she always seemed cold and empty.

"Clare?" said Raki.

"Yes?" responded Clare

"There has been something I have wanted to ask you, it's a question I have been asking myself since we split up…" said Raki

"What is it?" asked Clare.

"What…What am I to you?" he asked.

Clare went silent… she didn't know how to respond to that question… it was a question she asked herself often, but she never knew how to respond… So she decided to simplify it.

"You, are someone I care about deeply…" said Clare.

Raki looked a bit annoyed, Clare could understand why, her answer even had _her_ thinking "_Well no shit!" _There was much more she wanted to say, and she didn't know why she didn't say it, perhaps she didn't know how to say it all, or maybe…maybe she was afraid…

They heard footsteps approaching. Clare and Raki quickly separated themselves.

It was Miria. "We're heading to the new house, Helen and Cynthia are already on their way… You know the way, you can come with me or you can stay here..." she said.

"We'll go with you…" said Clare.

The three of them made their way over to the new house.

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2 days Later

Saint's Day

Raki

"How drunk are you trying to get!?" Raki asked in surprise when he saw Helen drinking straight out of a bucket of ale.

She moved her head away from her bucket and looked at Raki. "Veeerryy…" she said with a stupid smile. "What are you not going to drink?" she asked putting her bucket down.

"Maybe later…" said Raki, looking around at his surroundings. It was late at night, they were all resting around a warm fire inside of the manor's living room. It was a large room with couches and tables and a fireplace right in the center of the room. Naturally, Raki sat beside Clare, Helen was by Deneve, Tabitha stuck close to Miria, and Cynthia and Yuma stuck together as well. All of them were drinking and laughing, they also all feasted on some venison which Raki cooked.

"C'mon… you know you want some!" said Helen in a sing song voice, gesturing to the three barrels of ale that Deneve, Yuma, and Tabitha brought back.

Raki took a quick glance at Clare, who was holding her second glass of ale.

Clare caught his eye. "Go ahead, it's saints day, enjoy yourself." she said

Raki got up and poured himself a glass.

When he sat back down he heard Cynthia begin to tell the group something.

"Yuma said that this is her first Saints day!" said Cynthia.

Yuma looked a tad bit embarrassed. "WHAAAT?!" said Helen in shock. "You never did saints day?" said Tabitha.

"No… I never really knew what it was even about…" she said looking down.

"Saints day is a holiday used to honor all saints, dead or alive, by spending time with the most important people in your life." Said Tabitha.

"So we honor saints by drinking heavily?" asked Yuma.

"You got a better idea?" asked Helen. Before Yuma could even let the smallest sound out of her mouth Helen immediately answered for her. "No? That's what I thought! Now drink up!" said Helen.

To those words, Raki had his first drink of alcohol since he graduated special forces. He finished one glass, and then another… and maybe some more…

The eight of them drank and reminisced over past events that humored them to this day.

"Wait, wait wait…" said Deneve. "Yooou fought OPHEELIA?" Slured Deneve, clearly shocked. "And 'yer still here!? Wit' all four limbs!?"

Raki looked down a bit embarrassed. "I- I had no choice, we both wood hev' died…" He said resting his hand on Clare's shoulder. He did this to show that it was her he was talking about, and to help keep his balance, despite the fact that he was sitting down.

"I feenk tha kid hassss… (HIC) sum seeerious ballsss…" Said Helen, who was spread out on her back. She lifted her head up, she looked dazed and confused. "I bet I cood hav taken her…" she continued.

Raki fell on his back, he liked this feeling, the complete numbness that came with the drinks. It numbed his mind from having to think about the past 5 years, he no longer felt as much pain and guilt.

Clare looked around her, everyone seemed to have a drink in their hand, hell, even Miria seemed a bit drunk.

In truth, Clare was feeling a little drunk too, not as bad as Deneve or Cynthia,and definitely not as bad as Helen or Raki were. She wasn't slurring her words like they were, but her mind was definitely feeling foggy.

She looked down at Raki, who was lying on the floor, nearly unconscious, making googly eyes at her.

She smiled slightly, then she picked him up in her arms, despite the fact that he was much much bigger than her.

"Wha- Where are they going?" asked Helen as Clare carried Raki away.

Clare ignored her and continued to the room which they shared.

"Oi… ya'll betr be quieett, wee have thin walllls…" Babbled Helen.

"Shee's not gunna bang him Helen…" Slurred Cynthia.

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Clare

Clare walked into her room. Inside there were two medium sized beds on either side of the room.

She looked down at her companion, the light from the candles on the wall flickered over his face.

She walked over to Raki's bed and gently placed him down in it.

"Best… saint's day… ever…" he said with a smile. "It's beeen soo long… they don't havee saint's day (Hic) on other planets… This is my first one in…" he began counting on his fingers. " Just over five years!" he said.

Clare looked down at him and smiled, Six Years ago Raki still lived with his family. six years ago was the last time he truly Celebrated Saints day. But for her, and him too apparently, the last time they celebrated Saints Day had been a little over five years ago…

Saint's day was a day celebrated by being with the most important people in your life. Although it was true that they didn't do anything to truly "Celebrate " it. To Clare, who rarely did anything festive, it seemed like it was enough.

Five years ago, just before they split up and Ran into Ophelia, Clare celebrated Saints day with Raki in her own way. Although they didn't party or anything like that, Clare still did things differently that day. On saints day, rather than walk to her next mission, she checked into an inn in a small town. On Saint's day, she spent the entire day with Raki, walking around town and acting like regular humans.

That night, five years ago, they ate in a tavern, and talked casually to one another. Clare rarely spoke recreationally, she only spoke when she needed to, but that night she did things differently. She never told Raki that it was her way of celebrating saints day, but just the fact that he knew made her happy.

"Clare?" said Raki.

"Yes?" said Clare.

"Ya know why thees is the best saints day?"

"Why?"

"Because you're here…" he said with a stupid smile.

"You arre the beest parrt of today… Youu are the oonly thiing im haappy foor today… Youu arree the best thing that ever happpended to me…" He rambled slurring his words.

Normally him chattering like this would just annoy her, but the words he was saying… instead of getting annoyed Clare just felt even happier.

She opened her mouth, and as she was about to say something back to Raki, he interrupted her.

"Annnd do ya know why?" he said smiling at her.

There was a pause

"Because…" he said wrapping his arms around her waist, giving her an awkward hug. "I love you…" he unwrapped his arms and placed them by his side.

Clare was taken off guard by his words. Those three words meant so much, they were words that she had never got to use in her life, there were many times that she wished she had said them, she wished she had said them to her parents, she wished she had said them to Teresa, she wished she had said them to Raki… before they had split up… But she never got to say them…

She looked down at Raki, who was now fast asleep on his bed. She didn't know if it was the alcohol, or if she truly felt this way, but when she heard Raki's words she began to feel a familiar sting behind her eyes. Those three words were all she wanted to hear in her life, and now that she heard them… she was overjoyed...

She looked at Raki. She didn't know if he really meant what he said, or if it was just the alcohol…

Part of her already knew the answer…

She leaned down towards him, she put her hand on his head.

She leaned in closer and whispered words that she knew she meant, words that were her own and not caused by the alcohol flowing through her.

"I love you too…" she whispered

She pressed her lips against his, and then moved them away… that action COULD be justified by the alcohol… but not that it mattered, the boy was asleep, he hadn't heard her words nor felt her warmth.

With that she stepped back and crawled into her own bed, within seconds she too was sound asleep...

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The Viper

"So… you have no clue at all about where Raki is..." Growled the Viper.

"No! I'm telling you, I don't Know! Now please, Let me go!" said the voice of an old man.

"BULLSHIT" Shouted The Viper throwing the old man into a wall.

"GAHHH!" Cried out Father Vincent as he hit the wall.

"I guess that means I can kill you… I only need one person alive to send my message to Raki, and I think killing an old man will be more haunting than killing these two guards…" he said Gesturing to an injured Cid. "Huh? Where's the big one?" he said to himself.

Suddenly a roar was heard coming from behind the Viper. He turned around and looked at Gaak who was charging at him with a spear.

Just before the spear reached his throat, the Viper, with seemingly inhuman speed, grabbed Gaak's spear, and ripped it out of his hand.

"Huh…" said Gaak shakily. "Who are you?" asked Gaak with fear in his voice.

The Viper turned Gaak's spear and pointed it at him. "I have gone by many names… but to you, I am known only as death!" hissed the Viper.

The Viper plunged the tip of his spear into Gaak's chest.

Gaak looked down and fell to his knees, his vision began to blur. Blood began to spill out of his mouth.

"GAAK! NOO!" Screamed Cid, as he watched his best friend fall to the ground.

The Viper turned to Father Vincent. "Since no one can tell me where he is, I guess I have no choice but to leave only one of you alive." He walked over to Father Vincent. "Oh, and I won't stop there, I will kill eight other members of your flock father…" he said bitterly.

He lifted Father Vincent up by his neck and began strangling him.

Just as Father Vincent's face turned purple the Viper heard a woman yell out behind him. "WAIT! Let him go!" The Viper dropped Vincent and turned and faced a Blind Nun. "I can give you information!" She said.

"I'm listening…" he said coldly.

"I don't know where he is, BUT, I can give you the possible location of someone who may know. But you must promise me that you will leave us be and that no harm will come to her or her companions!" Said the nun.

The Viper peered at her through his helmet. "How about you tell me, and I don't kill your friends and beat the information out of you…" He said menacingly.

The blind nun Galatea thought for a moment, She had heard of Raki and his relationship with Clare through Father Vincent. And she knew that Clare was with at least six other powerful Claymores in the north, and she knew that the Viper would most likely not stand a chance against them.

"Her name is Clare, the organization's former number 47…" she said. "Sister Latea what are you doing!" said Vincent. "Silence!" said the Viper.

"Last I knew, she was deep in the north, most likely near Pieta, staying with six other powerful warriors. If I were you I wouldn't dare face them, they are far more powerful than you think."

"We'll see…" he said walking out of the bloodstained cathedral, littered with dead guards.

Galatea walked towards Vincent's direction. "Father Vincent are you okay?" she asked.

"Sister Latea… What have you done?" he asked.

"I saved us…" she said, helping him up.

_**One day later…**_

"Have you found any leads on his position yet?"

"Negative… But I got a lead on someone who may know" said The Viper into the communications device on his wrist.

"We need you to get him back! He possesses the Catalyst! We can't let the enemy get their hands on it! I don't care what it takes, bring him and all of his belongings back here! Dead or Alive!" said a voice coming from The Vipers wrist.

"Roger that sir… Viper out." said the Viper.

The Viper continued on his way, he was going at an inhuman pace, he was able to cross great distanced far faster than any normal human could. He would be in Pieta very soon...


	8. The Awakened

_**Authors, "Hello, welcome to my Ted Talk.": **__**Aloha, These next 2 chapters were meant to be one chapter, but they are kinda long, and reading one giant chapter is a little daunting... so I split it up.**_

_**Also, PM me if you want to be my beta reader, or have any suggestions for what I should do next, or you can leave suggestions in the reviews. (P.S. I love reviews, even if they are criticisms, it shows that people are actually reading this, and that the community is still breathing and it motivates me a lot...) as always, please review. Reviews mean way more than favorites or follows.**_

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Miria

"Ya know, he's not that bad…"

Helen said as she sat beside six of her seven comrades as they watched Raki spar with Deneve. The eight of them were practicing outside of their manor, they didn't bother walking all the way to the clearing just yet, it was too late in the day. Helen Took another bite out of an apple which she was holding in her hand.

No one had any Idea where the hell she kept getting them, they were way up north and it was the middle of winter, yet somehow Helen always managed to get her hands on a fresh apple. If they didn't know any better they would all have thought that Helen had a gift from some kind of apple god, that gave her the ability to make apples appear out of thin air.

"Where do you keep getting those?" asked Clare.

Helen looked at Clare, "You just have to know where to look." she smiled.

"Quiet down, I'm trying to watch this fight." said Miria

The two of them did as they were told… for about thirty seconds… When Helen decided to break the silence and ask Miria the question that was burning in the back of everyone's minds.

"So Miria, back then when you and Raki fought, how did he manage to knock you down on your ass like that?"she asked carelessly.

Miria glared at Helen, with eyes that seemed to scream 'watch it'. "He didn't knock me down… I got distracted and I tripped…" Explained Miria.

"You… tripped? But you never trip!" said Helen.

"I was distracted by something okay…" she said looking to her right, away from Helen.

"What in the world could have possibly distracted you THAT much?" asked Helen.

Miria didn't answer her, instead she focused her attention on Tabitha who seemed to be staring at Raki with a mixture of confusion and curiosity. For whatever reason it seemed like Tabitha had been looking at him like that a whole lot since Raki and Miria sparred.

"_Did she see his speed too?"_ wondered Miria.

Miria looked back at Raki and Deneve. The match seemed to be going nowhere. She looked over at Tabitha. "Tabitha, can I speak to you for a moment… alone." she said standing up. Tabitha stood up quickly and began following Miria as she walked away from the others and into the manor.

They walked deeper into the house, making sure they were out of earshot of the other warriors.

"Tabitha, I've noticed that ever since Raki and I had our sparring match, you have been looking at him very strangely. So I have to ask, did you see or notice anything strange during our fight?" Asked Miria.

Tabitha looked at Miria, there was a pause as Tabitha thought about her response. "I don't… I don't know…" she said, shaking her head.

"What do you mean? It's a yes or no question." said Miria.

"I just… I don't know, maybe i'm just losing it, but I feel like whenever I look at him, something in me is just screaming at me, telling me that there is something wrong…" spoke Tabitha.

She looked in the direction of Raki. "Captain Miria, if you have any explanation as to why I get this feeling please tell me, I need to know why I feel this overwhelming sense of dread…"

Tabitha looked back at her, waiting for an answer. "I don't know why either… I don't even think he knows, he has big pieces of his memory missing, and the parts he does remember are too hard to talk about… and I don't want to push him, but I need answers." explained Miria looking down.

She looked back at Tabitha. "Perhaps we should use your ability…"

"What? How could that possibly work on him? He's a human." asked Tabitha with surprise.

"Maybe it can…" said Miria.

"How?" asked Tabitha.

"Back when I was with the organization, I dug around in their files and I found evidence of some kind of experiment, it allowed the organization to track certain humans, by injecting them with a small amount of blood from a warrior. This gave them a small aura which was almost identical to the warrior whose blood was used. This let that one specific warrior track them for up to thirty minutes." explained Miria.

"However there was no practical use for it, so the organization discontinued research on it." finished Miria.

"And you think that will work?" asked Tabitha.

"It's worth a try… " said Miria.

"When?" asked Tabitha.

"Soon, whenever we are away from the others…" responded Miria.

"And Clare?" asked Tabitha.

Miria paused for a long moment, she knew that Clare had more of a right than anyone to know what was going on with Raki, but Miria know if it was a good idea.

On one hand, Clare deserved to know about Raki, but on the other hand, if something truly horrific happened to him, or if he was telling the truth about dying, then who knows how she would react. With the ever looming threat of the organization, and yoma, the last thing we need is for her to get distracted.

She made up her mind. "We are going to keep it between us for now, I don't want Clare getting distracted." explained Miria.

"Ok, but How? Raki and Clare haven't left each other's side since saints day." said Tabitha.

"We'll figure something out…" spoke Miria.

"Miria are you sure this is a good idea? I mean Clare is going to find out one way or another, and she is gonna be pissed when she realizes we did THIS behind her back." said Tabitha.

"I understand that, but it is important to know what's going on with Raki. There is something wrong with him, and I need to know more about it." explained Miria.

"Miria?" said Tabitha. "When you sparred with Raki, what really happened, why did you really fall?" she asked.

Miria gave her response. "What I told you was true, something distracted me and I tripped." she said.

"But that something that distracted you, It was him wasn't it, it was something he did right?" she asked.

There was a long silence.

"We should head back, but stay on the lookout for an opportunity for us to talk to Raki." said Miria.

"Roger that." replied Tabitha.

The two of them made their way back to the others.

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Raki

The sparring match between Raki and Deneve ended when Deneve amped up her strength a bit and knocked Raki down to his back. Although Raki was strong and he knew how to use a weapon he was still no match for a claymore when said claymore was actually trying. (Unless she tripped of course)

"You fought well." said Deneve offering Raki a hand to help him off the ground.

"Thanks…" he said, taking her hand for help off the ground.

The two of them headed back to the others. As Raki and Deneve approached them, they both saw Miria and Tabitha emerge from a doorway behind the other four warriors.

"Where'd you go Miria?" asked Deneve casually.

Tabitha and I were discussing important business.

"More important than watching a sparring match that went how everyone expected?"asked Raki with a smile.

"So Deneve won?" asked Miria.

"Indeed." replied Deneve.

"But that still begs the question…" She continued. "Where did you learn to fight?" asked Deneve to Raki.

All of the warriors eyes turned to him, he knew someone was going to ask this question sooner or later. And he knew he couldn't keep it a secret forever either.

He quickly eyed Miria and Clare, the two people who he already told about his past. His eyes seemed to say "_What do I say?"_ but their eyes gave no response.

He spoke up. "I can tell you guys later tonight, when we have more time." he said trying his best to avoid answering.

Helen spoke up. "OR, we stop this whole keeping secrets thing and you just tell us now." she said.

"I agree with Helen." said Deneve. "We're a team, and we shouldn't be keeping secrets like this from each other." she said stoically.

At last Raki spoke up. "Well… it's really… personal…" he said looking avoiding their gaze.

"Then be vague, I just think we all deserve answers." said Helen impatiently.

Raki looked down, "_Well I tried…" _he thought to himself. He opened his mouth. "I was a soldier… in a war… a really big war actually" he said.

"What war?" asked Deneve, "Yea. What war Raki?" Asked Helen. "There haven't really been any big wars, as a matter of fact, there haven't been any real wars for centuries. Unless something crazy happened over the past seven years."

Raki felt trapped, he knew that Miria did not want him telling everyone about how he was fighting on another planet. Most people couldn't accept it, a lot of people at this time thought the world was flat and that the moon was just the size of a coin. Raki knew that these women were smarter than that however, but he still didn't think they would just accept it for an answer.

"Well? Are you going to answer us?" shot Helen.

"Helen, Deneve, that's enough." Barked Miria. "If you two didn't act like such children, then perhaps you would be ready for the truth." said Miria.

Helen wanted to say something back, but even she knew when to shut up, and now was one of those times.

"You will be told the truth when _I_ deem you ready, do I make myself clear?" she said.

"Yes captain…" grumbled Helen and Deneve.

"Wait do you guys feel that?" asked Tabitha.

"Feel what?" asked Cynthia.

"I sense a powerful aura. It's likely a powerful awakened being…" she said.

"We should leave it be, I don't think it would be wise to fight it if it's not absolutely necessary." Said Miria.

"Uh-oh…" said Tabitha.

"What's wrong?" asked Miria.

"It's right by one of our stashes…" Said Tabitha Grimly.

"That's not good… It could pick up our scent." said Clare.

"That could cause a lot of problems for us if it decides to bring friends…" said Yuma.

"Shit…" said Miria. "Well, I'm sure it's nothing just a few of us can't handle." she looked at her team. "Clare, Helen, Deneve, and Cynthia, I want you to go after the awakened being. Yuma, I want you to keep watch from a distance and come back here if something goes wrong, I will recon the area around here and see if he has any friends, then I will join you four if you haven't taken him out by the time I'm done. Raki and Tabitha, I want you two to stay here." she ordered.

"But I can help!" He protested.

"Maybe some other day, but not today." she said.

He looked down reluctantly. "It's okay Raki, we are going to be fine." assured Clare.

"Ok, just be careful…" he said looking up at her.

"Alright everyone, move out." said Miria. All of them moved out towards the Awakened being, except for Tabitha, Raki, and Miria.

"Huh? Miria… I thought you were going to recon the area." said Raki.

"Actually, I'm staying here… I need to have a word with you…"

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Clare

"Can you all sense it?" asked Clare.

"Yes, we are close, but it is very faint, perhaps it is not as powerful as Tabitha said…" suggested Deneve.

"No, Tabitha wouldn't make a mistake like that…" said Cynthia.

"It must be suppressing it's yoki, and it must be damn good at it too. I can't pinpoint it's location…" said Helen.

"Stay on your toes, we could be walking into an ambush…" said Deneve.

"Then I guess it's a good thing we have Yuma watching us…" said Clare looking back in Yumas direction, who was up on a cliff watching them from a safe distance.

"Wait… I think I may know where it is, It's yoki feels strongest over here." Said Cynthia, pointing to her left.

"Are you certain?" asked Deneve.

"No, I feel it too, she is right, it definitely feels strongest over there…" said Helen.

The four of them drew their claymores. They pressed on in the direction that Cynthia suggested.

After a short walk they saw it…

It looked like a mass of flesh…

"What is that thing?" asked Clare moving closer.

Suddenly something clicked in Clare's mind, she just realized that they had fallen for a trap.

"GET BACK!" Cried Clare, but it was too late.

Before Clare could finish her first word, the mass of flesh sunk into the ground, and massive tendrils rose from the soil, snatching her up off the ground, it began to crush her.

The awakened being had hidden itself deep underground, and it focused all of it's Yoki into a mass of flesh which stood above the ground, it was using it as a decoy, and she fell for it like an idiot.

Clare cried out as she was slammed to the ground.

"What the hell! I thought it couldn't hide it's yoki unless it was in human form!" shouted Helen

"It must be in human form under the ground! It must have only awakened small parts of its body." Said Cynthia.

The three of them charged at the tendril which was holding Clare to the ground, but the monster saw this coming, and it already was sending more tendrils to intercept them.

Clare tried to call out to the three of them, she was trying to warn them, she could sense it's movements. But she couldn't speak, she was crushed inside of the tendrils solid grip.

The ground erupted beneath them, and Helen and Cynthia were thrown into the air, Deneve was just barely able to dodge the attack.

Helen was spinning out in the air, she was unable to stop herself from spinning, however, Cynthia was able to control herself in mid-air.

She watched helplessly as the awakened being grabbed Helens foot and brought her to the ground.

It slammed her into the ground, then immediately it lifted her up and slammed her down again on the other side. It did this again and again. Like some kind of sick twisted pendulum.

Their two offensive warriors were subdued, it was up to Deneve and Cynthia, the two defensive warriors to take down the monster.

"Cynthia watch my back! I'm going to try to free Clare!" Shouted Deneve.

She began to charge at the tendril which was holding Clare, at last she swung her swords into it, cutting it in half. But as soon as she did, it immediately regenerated at an impressive speed even for that of an awakened being. "Damn! I can't take this thing alone!" she shouted.

Almost on cue Cynthia landed beside Deneve, cutting down a tendril which was about to grab Deneve.

"WATCH OUT IT REGENERATES FAST!" cried Deneve.

"Huh?" said Cynthia, as she looked back to find that the tendril which she had just cut in half was already completely reformed and it was aimed at her.

Cynthia cried out as the tendril drove itself straight through her gut.

Deneve attempted to charge forward to help Cynthia, but she found that she couldn't move her feet.

She looked down and saw that a pair of tendrils had snaked its way up her legs, and it was holding her there. She had made the grave mistake of standing still for too long, she got distracted trying to warn Cynthia about the beasts regeneration ability. In these kinds of fights, movement was everything.

In an instant more Tendrils wrapped around her arms. Forcing her to drop her two swords.

Deneve was brought to her knees, and just like that, all four of them were subdued, they were ambushed by a clever awakened being, had it been under different circumstances they might have stood a chance.

A claymores greatest advantage when fighting an awakened being head on is the fact that they can usually outsmart the awakened being. Most awakened beings were dumb as rocks and fell for traps easily, but somehow this single awakened being had outsmarted them all.

Clare looked off in the direction that Yuma was in previously, she was nowhere to be seen, this was good, it meant that she was on her way to get back up.

The ground erupted once more, but rather than tendrils emerging from the ground, a woman appeared. She had long black hair and green eyes. Her left arm had awakened, and out of it was a mass of tendrils, some were sticking into the ground, others floated around her freely.

"Hello there…" she said with a wicked grin.

"I am going to have so much fun with you all!"


	9. Lost Memories

_**Authors "Welcome to my ted talk":**____**It's double upload time baby. This chapter is a little confusing at some points, so please bare with me. It jumps around quite a bit, so if you find yourself thinking "How did they get there?" Just go back a few **__**sentences**__**, you probably skimmed over something. **_

_**Anyways, PM me if you are interested in Beta Reading for me, I can use the help. Also please review, it means a lot.**_

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Tabitha

"Do you really think that this will work?" asked Raki.

"Maybe… we aren't 100% sure yet, but it's worth a try, if it doesn't work then we'll have to figure out another way…" said Miria.

He sighed, "Well, if you say so…"

"And you are okay with this? I don't want you to feel like I'm forcing you…" said Miria.

"It's okay, I also want answers, and if this helps then so be it…" he said bravely.

"And you should also know that you will be pulled in with me, it will be like you're there again." explained Tabitha.

Raki stared at her, he seemed to lose his sense of bravery. Fear entered his eyes as she said this. He opened his mouth again, very timidly he said, "I understand… please do what you need to do, and let's just get this over with…"

"Okay, are you ready?" she asked him.

"Not really, but go ahead…" he said with the most nervous fake smile imaginable. "Are you?" he asked.

"Not yet, I still need to give you my blood." she said.

"No not that… are you ready for what your about to see?" he asked.

"What am I going to see?" she asked.

Raki stared at her. He looked down He opened his mouth "Blood… A whole lot of blood..."

Tabitha didn't say anything back, she just continued what she was doing. She cut his forearm with her knife, she then cut open part of her forearm with the same knife. She held her wound above his cut, making sure to get as much blood into his cut as possible.

Raki grunted as she did this, her blood caused him great pain.

"I'm beginning to sense you, that means it worked." said Tabitha.

"Wait… that's strange, I can sense him too… and the aura is not identical to yours..." spoke Miria.

"I thought only I would be able to sense him…" said Tabitha.

"Perhaps the organization was wrong…" said Miria. "_Or maybe it's something with him…"_ Thought Miria, remembering Raki's speed. "_No… that wouldn't make any sense…"_

"Are you ready Raki?" asked Tabitha placing her hands on his temples.

"I guess…" he said reluctantly.

"Hold still…" said Tabitha focusing. She closed her eyes. It required a great deal of concentration to pull off what she was doing. She was delving deep into his memory, unlocking hidden parts of his mind...

She could hear the noises around her. She heard birds outside the manor singing. She heard Miria's quiet breathing, she heard the house settling. Suddenly the sounds began to get quieter… this was a good sign. She could barely hear the birds outside, after a short moment all was silent.

She opened her eyes and found herself inside of a cell… She looked left and saw that Raki was standing beside her. "Where are we?" she asked.

"This looks like the cell I was in I was in when I was captured by slavers." he said, glancing to the outside of the cell.

There was a small shifting noise behind them, they turned around and saw a young boy. "Is that…" started Raki. Tabitha interrupted him. "That's you." She said firmly.

"So we're in my memory, but were visiting it like ghosts?" he said confused.

"Yes, when we enter your memory we can see 100% of what your brain saw and knew, this means we see things that you probably don't remember and just have stored deep in your mind. This includes distant noises, the construction of the world around you, and the position of your own body." she explained.

"That's weird…" said Raki.

"So why are we here? Why is this memory important?" she asked.

"This is when I got taken away." He explained.

Suddenly they heard footsteps coming from outside of the cell.

A man approached the cell, Tabitha found his outfit strange.

"Hey kid, you want out of that cage?" he asked

"Who's this?" asked Tabitha.

"This is the guy who took me to the other world…" said Raki.

"Did you say other world?" she asked.

"Yea… Did Miria not tell you?" asked Raki.

"No…" admitted Tabitha.

"Here, can you skip this part or something? You can see the other world if you want." said Raki. "Just don't go too far, Go forward about a month."

"Got it." responded Tabitha, Concentrating on Raki's memories once again.

She began to hear the sounds of birds chirping.

She opened her eyes and saw that she was in some sort of camp.

Raki was now on her right, about twenty feet away. He ran over to her, "This is where they trained us." he said.

"It looks just like our world…" responded Tabitha.

"Yea, crazy right?" said Raki.

Tabitha heard something behind her, it was the sound of men marching. She turned around and saw roughly twenty men all marching together in step. A man watched beside them alone, he was calling out the steps that the men had to take. "Left, Right, Left, Right…" he continued.

She looked at the back of the platoon and saw a young Raki. He was in step with the other soldiers, however a lot of the other soldiers weren't staying in step too well.

Raki followed her gaze and saw himself, he sighed. "Okay seen enough? Let's go, C'mon, nothing more to see here." he said trying to usher her along.

Tabitha ignored him, she noticed the guy behind young Raki kick the back of Raki's foot, knocking him out of step. The man who was calling the cadence immediately noticed.

"Element, Halt." He ordered.

Raki got closer to her. "Tabitha please, lets just go!" he pleaded. Once again Tabitha ignored him.

Tabitha focused on the guy who kicked Raki's heel. "_This assholes gonna get chewed out." _thought Tabitha.

That did not happen…

The man calling the cadence approached Raki, "It seems like our stunt can't figure out the difference between left and right…" he said sinisterly.

"_Wait? Is he talking about Raki? Why did he call him a stunt?"_

"Tabitha please…" said Raki.

"Whats a stunt?" she asked him, still watching the scene unfold before her.

"It means a person from our world, now please, can we leave?" he asked.

Tabitha ignored him again.

The sergeant looked at Fake Raki with hate, the situation seemed to be escalating quickly.

"Tabitha lets go!" shouted the real Raki, who did not want Tabitha to see what would happen next.

"Alright, I'm trying!" she said. Tabitha didn't have a destination in her mind, she had no idea how far forward she needed to go. Before she closed her eyes she noticed the sergeants hand pull back for a punch. She decided to hurry up and go to the closest memory that was of significant strength and importance to Raki. She found a memory, it was a little under two years from the current memory she was residing in.

She focused, she let her mind drown out the sounds around her, it became dead silent...

Then out of the blue she heard something… it sounded like… crying…

She opened her eyes and found herself in a wasteland. She was standing in deep mud, the air smelled like death. Raki was nowhere to be seen. She kept her eyes up in front of her. She took a step forward, beneath her boots she felt a crunch and then a squish. She looked down, her eyes widened and her jaw dropped at what she saw.

She had stepped into the chest cavity of a dead man, his face was caved in and it looked like his skin was melted off. She instinctively jumped back, she felt another squish beneath her boot. She looked down again, she saw that she was standing in the body of a young boy, he was cut in half, his guts were spilling out, she had stepped in his intestines.

She looked around some more, only to find that the ground was covered by the remains of these dead soldiers. The bodies were of men of all ages, some of them were as young as nine years of age, and the oldest seemed to be mid fourtees. There had to have been thousands of bodies littering the ground.

Tabitha gagged, she had seen lots of death in her life, but none of it compared to this… She covered her mouth with her hand, she felt sick. She wanted to run and get as far away as possible.

She heard it again, the sound of a child crying. She looked to her left, with her mouth still agape. There she saw him, a little boy, both of his legs were missing, and he had a hole in his stomach. "Momma… papa…I'm sorry…" he was saying softly between cries.

He looked much like her own little brother, who had died in a similar fashion when she was a kid. He was torn in half by a Yoma.

Tabitha ran to him. She approached him and reached out for him. She wanted to tell him that everything was going to be okay… she wanted to help him… she wanted to stop him from dying, she didn't want to let another person fall victim to this massacre.

"Look at me…" she said, holding his shoulders, "You're going to be okay!" she said, her voice breaking as she remembered her own brother.

"Mama…" he said, before coughing up a fit of blood. The boy let out his last breath, slowly.

Tabitha watched the life fade from his eyes. "_How could this happen? What monster could have done this?"_ Tears came to her eyes, as she was reminded of the war in the north.

Out of nowhere she felt a hand grab her shoulder, the hand whipped her around, and she was face to face with Raki.

"Tabitha! This isn't what we're here for! We need to leave now! Before _they _come!" said Raki panicking.

"WHO!?" She cried. "What kind of monster would have done this?" she begged.

"WE NEED TO GO NOW!" he yelled.

Then they both heard it… thousands of feet hitting the ground, charging, stampeding towards them.

"Too late…" shuddered Raki "PLEASE TABITHA! WE NEED TO GO NOW!"

Tabitha turned to face the stampede, ignoring Raki's desperate pleas. She was facing an army of men, all of them were charging towards their deaths. Letting out a warcry that would surely strike fear into any man.

She suddenly heard a popping noise from behind her.

"GET DOWN!" Cried Raki, Tackling Tabitha to the ground.

Tabitha watched in horror as one by one, the brave men were torn apart by bullets racing through the air.

Men were cut in half, others fell to the ground not making much of a mess, others ran and took cover.

Tabitha looked back at where the popping noise was coming from, she looked on and saw another wall of men, standing against the other army.

"This… This is…" she stammered.

"WE NEED TO GO!" screamed Raki. But Tabitha wasn't hearing his words, she was in a state of shock from the horrific scene before her.

A whistling noise was heard coming from the sky. Tabitha looked up and saw hundreds of objects soaring through the sky.

"No… God no…" cried Raki.

Seconds later the objects hit the ground. Landing in the mass of fighting soldiers.

Fire engulfed the area around Tabitha. She wasn't harmed by the explosion, it was just a memory after all.

She looked to the sky, up in the air she saw bits of the soldiers soar through the air. Blood engulfed the sky. Tabitha sat up on her knees. She was paralized in fear as the blood rained down on her.

The brave warrior who believed she had seen the face of death was humbled by the massacre in front of her eyes.

All around her she heard screaming, the screams of soldiers who charged into death. Her blonde hair turned red, so did her pale skin. The ground around her was also covered in blood.

She tried to scream, but she found herself choking on her own horror… it was the scene around her, it was the fact that she was on her knees surrounded by dead men and children alike, it was the horrific fact that the sky rained blood, and it was the horrible truth that it was humans who did this, regular humans, not yoma, not monsters, humans… just humans…

"C'MON WE'RE LEAVING!" Said Raki, pulling on Tabitha's arm, but she wouldn't move, she was paralized by fear and shock. She was immobilized.

"Dammit." said Raki lifting her up off the ground, and onto his shoulders. He Firemans carried her out of the battlefield. He ran and he kept running.

He placed one foot in front of the other, quickly trying to escape the scene. Yet no matter how far he ran Tabitha still heard the cries of dying men just as loud as ever. Tabitha began to move again.

Raki felt her move. "Are you okay!? Can you move now?" he asked.

"Yes…" she murmured

"Good" He set her down on her knees. "Now can you get us out of here?" he asked.

"Raki… What was that?" begged Tabitha. "Why were those people… why were they…"

"Look I'm sorry, I can't give you a good answer, but we need to move on, we can't stay here!" he said.

"Move on? HOW? How are we supposed to move on? Did you not see that? Do you not care?" she asked accusingly.

"Tabitha I…" he began but was interrupted.

"How? How could you just move on? Why do you not seem bothered at all by this? What kind of monster is just okay with this? How can you stand this!?"

"BECAUSE I LIVED THIS SAME THING OVER AND OVER AGAIN! EVERY DAY! FOR FIVE YEARS STRAIGHT!" shouted Raki.

"I haven't moved on! I AM bothered by it! This war haunts my dreams every night! The only reason I'm not having your reaction is because I had to adapt, I had to get used to this, I had to… I wouldn't have survived any other way…" Said Raki.

With despair in his voice he continued. "I watched my friends die! And trust me I feel exactly how you do… I just got used to the feeling… So get it together! We came here for a reason, and this isn't it... Now please, get us out of here. I don't want to be here anymore than you do…" his voice breaking.

Tabitha continued to stare at him, she was at a loss for words, she didn't know what to say. How could someone survive this? How much death did this one boy see? Why did he carry on living after living this for five years. Was it wrong for him to survive when so many others died?

"Tabitha…" he interrupted her thoughts. "Please focus, please get us out of here…" he said somberly.

"I'll try…" she said nervously.

She concentrated again

"Move us at least two and a half years forward… that's when I got off the frontline." said Raki.

"Got it…" she said, trying her best to clear her mind of the scene before her.

She tried to focus, but found it incredibly difficult. She was still in shock after seeing that bloodbath just mere seconds ago.

She slowed down her breathing. This is what she trained for, to perform at her best level under the most stressful conditions.

"_Concentrate…" _she thought to herself.

She squeezed her eyelids tighter, focusing as best she could. She found a memory that was of decent importance and it was a little under three years ahead.

A few deep breaths later and the sounds of screaming died down a bit, the world got quieter, a lot quieter. Soon enough there was not a noise around her.

A moment later she heard two pairs of feet hitting the ground.

She opened her eyes and found Raki, the real one, standing next to her. She looked down and saw that she was no longer covered in blood.

And just a few meters in front of her she saw fake Raki walking next to a little girl with dark brown hair that could easily be mistaken for black.

Doing her best to forget the scene from earlier Tabitha turned to Raki. "Who's that?" she asked.

"Oh her? That's Priscilla, her and I got assigned to a special team together." he responded.

"_Priscilla… Why does that name seem so familiar?"_ wondered Tabitha.

"What special team?" she asked him.

"Oh, I guess you skipped over all that huh? Well her and I passed selection for a special forces group. So rather than fight on the frontline we got to do recon operations, rescue hostages, kill enemy commanders, and capture important assets." explained Raki.

"So what's going on now?" she asked.

"We're heading for a mission briefing, this is where I received my... uh…" he paused.

Tabitha continued staring at him. "...My final mission…" he said in a half whisper.

"What do you mean?" asked Tabitha.

Raki remained silent.

"Nevermind… let's just keep moving." urged Raki.

"Okay." responded Tabitha.

The two of them followed fake Raki and Priscilla down a dirt path.

"I wonder what the missions gonna be? It must be important if they're calling all of us down. Huh?" said Fake Raki.

Priscilla just nodded her head.

"Yeah, she didn't talk much…" said real Raki. "She kinda freaked me out when we first met but…" he paused remembering something. "But she kinda grew on me, I mean I saved her once but after that she probably saved me at least a dozen times." explained Raki.

"This little girl did?" asked Tabitha.

"Yea, crazy right?" responded Raki.

The two of them followed fake Raki and Priscilla to a large tent which was hidden deep in the woods.

Upon entering they were surrounded by 26 rough looking men, all of them, Raki and Priscilla included, were wearing the same armor and uniform, it was identical to the armor that Raki wore when he fell from the sky minus the helmet.

A grizzled old man stood at the front of the tent beside two other men.

"Lady and Gentlemen…" he began. Everyone took a quick glance at Priscilla the only "Lady" in the room.

"We have called you all here because command has discovered that the enemy has their hands on an item of extreme importance. It is said that this one item could turn the tide of the war and get us out of this hundred year old stalemate." explained the old man.

The old man continued. "You will be split up into two groups, ten of the people in this room, myself included will retrieve the object, the other 16 will be tasked with capturing key points around the area and using those points as a means to stop any counter attack."

"If I call your name step forward." he said. The man began listing off names, "Myself, Tucker, William, Jack, Priscilla…" the man continued. Priscilla stepped forward in front of everyone else. Fake Raki gave her a look that seemed to say. "_I hope I get called too…" _

The old man finished the list, Raki's name was not called.

"The rest of you, follow captain Leon to the next room." the 16 of them, fake Raki included, did as they were told.

Tabitha began to follow fake Raki, but real Raki stopped her. "Wait, not yet… You said that I can hear things that I don't remember hearing right? Something about my brain leaving out small details right?" Said Raki.

"Yea…" responded Tabitha.

"So let's hear about this 'object' that could supposedly win the war!" said Raki excitedly.

Tabitha nodded her head "Sounds good." she said.

The two of them waited for the briefing to start.

The old man began to speak, his voice seemed to be less clear, likely because Raki was in another room when he heard it.

"I guess I will start from the beginning…." He said.

He turned on the projector which was in the center of the room. An image was shown on the wall. It appeared distorted, likely because Raki had barely seen it out of his peripheral vision, but it appeared to be a glowing purple orb.

"The object we are after originates from the planet we call Cerberus. As most of you already know, this is the planet where the stunts are located." Upon hearing this some of them men appeared disturbed or disgruntled.

"The enemy currently possesses the , they do not know how to harness its power yet, but they will soon. However WE currently do know how to use it." continued the old man.

"This object is our top priority, find it and we win the war, lose it and we all suffer." he explained.

"Find this item, find the catalyst…"

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Yuma

"_I have to- I have to get Miria!" _Yuma thought in her head as she raced for the manor.

Yuma saw the entire battle unfold before her eyes. She saw how Clare had fallen for a trap, She saw Helen get thrown into the air and grabbed when she tried to save Clare, she saw Cynthia underestimate the monsters ability to regenerate, and at last she saw Deneve become subdued by the beast as she tried to warn and help Cynthia.

The awakened being had exploited the weaknesses of her comrades. Clare and her rush to get the fight over with, Helen and her desire to save her friends, Cynthia and her lack of long time experience, and lastly Deneve, who wanted to look out for her team. All the while the real enemy remained underground.

But now she was up, exposing herself, and she knew how the awakened being worked, Miria, Tabitha, and Herself should be enough to save their teammates, and the combined seven of them should be able to take the bitch down.

She saw the manor in the distance, "_Just hold on for a little bit longer… Help is on the way…"_ she thought to herself.

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Raki

"Find this item… Find the Catalyst…" said the old man at the head of the room.

"The...Catalyst?" Said Raki to himself.

At that moment, the old man's face froze and all noise from the room ceased.

"What's going on?" asked Tabitha.

Raki looked into the other room and saw that Fake Raki was no longer in it.

"I must have left, I guess I got to a distance where I could no longer hear them…" he said with disappointment in his voice.

"Well what now?" asked Tabitha.

Raki knew all too well about where they had to go next.

He had to go to the place where he died, he had to see if it was real, and he knew that Tabitha had to see too, so she could confirm the memory with Miria.

At the same time Raki also needed to know how he came back.

"I know where we need to go next…" uttered Raki. He was very pale.

"Where?" asked Tabitha.

"Go forward, two days and thirteen hours... That should be enough." said Raki with dread in his voice.

Tabitha looked at him and took notice of his pale face.

She took a deep breath and concentrated,

A second later, Raki watched as the world turned into a black void and all sound ceased.

Suddenly the world came back into existence,he was back, back in the compound.

Raki heard himself, "Not good…" said Fake Raki.

Raki looked on in terror as fake him got off the machine gun and ran down the stairs, heading for the exit of the compound.

Tabitha and Raki ran after him, Raki wanted to scream at him and tell him to leave out ANY OTHER DOOR. But he knew that Fake Raki couldn't hear him.

His heart dropped as he saw himself run out the door and get hit over the head by a massive giant of a man.

Tabitha walked outside and watched with wide eyes as she saw the mountain of a man move at inhuman speeds. Not as fast as a Claymore, but certainly faster than any human could while wearing all that armor. "How is he doing that?" she wondered out loud.

"Do you know how much force it takes to rip off a human arm?" growled the man.

Raki and Tabitha watched in horror as the man ripped off Raki's arms.

"YOU SADISTIC FUCK!" Roared fake Raki.

Real Raki fell to his knees, "So it was all real…" he muttered.

"Clare…" Tabitha heard Fake Raki cry.

"Clare please help me…" he said as his life began to fade away.

Tabitha looked at him, her eyes burned with a million questions.

She looked back at fake Raki, the large man was about to kill Raki. Tabitha knew that this was his end.

_WHOOSH_

Seemingly out of nowhere, the man's throat began bleeding, the man fell to the ground, and standing behind him was Priscilla.

"That little girl from earlier? How did she get here so fast?" Asked Tabitha in shock.

"Raki" she whined as she raced towards a dying Raki.

She sat him upright and held him close. "I'm so sorry! I wasn't fast enough!" She cried.

"It's...okay…" He muttered.

"Raki… Please don't die!" She pleaded. Raki shook his head, "It's too late…" he said. "I need you to promise me something…" He whispered.

"What is it?" asked Priscilla.

Fake Raki whispered his dying wish into Priscilla's ear, he could just barely make out a few of the words he was saying.

Real Raki held his head down, tears fell from his eyes.

Tabitha glanced at him after fake Raki gave his dying wish, Raki didn't know if Tabitha heard fake Raki or not.

Fake Raki spoke up. "Promise me… you will do this…" He said between small gasps for air.

"I promise…" said Priscilla.

At that moment Fake Raki closed his eyes, and his breathing stopped.

Tabitha stared at the real Raki with her jaw dropped.

"Raki… What is going on here?" she asked with a voice of shock.

Raki looked back at her with tears in his eyes. "I don't know…" he said.

All was silent, except for the faint noise of Priscilla crying.

"_Poor Priscilla, I can still hear her crying…"_ Raki thought to himself.

"_Wait…"_

"_I can hear her… crying…"_

A light turned on in Raki's head. He looked at Tabitha. "Tabitha! We can still hear her." he said.

"How can we hear her cry if I'm dead?" he asked her.

Tabitha glanced back at him. Then back at Fake Raki. "You don't have a heartbeat… we shouldn't be able to hear…" she uttered.

Then something caught her eyes. "Raki look…" she said pointing to Priscilla.

Raki looked over at Priscilla, she was unzipping her backpack, as she opened it he swore he saw a glowing purple light.

One of her hands reached into her bag, the other one however….

"_Tabitha!" _a voice seemed to say.

Priscilla pointed one of her fingers at Raki's chest, seconds later her finger elongated into a sharp weapon. She used it to cut a large gash into his chest.

Tabitha and Raki both jumped back in surprise at this, especially Raki. "Priscilla… you… you can't be…" he said his voice breaking.

"RAKI TABITHA!"

"You were like a sister to me… how could you be a…" he struggled to say the word.

"WAKE UP!"

"A yoma…" he muttered.

Suddenly the world fell away, he opened his eyes and found himself face to face with Miria.

"Good you two are awake, Tabitha, we need to move, the others are in serious trouble!" she said panicking a bit.

"Clare's in trouble!" said Raki.

"Yes, that's why Tabitha, Yuma, and I need to go!" she said.

"I'm coming too!" he said defiantly.

"No, you will just get in the way!" said Miria.

"I'm not some dumb kid, I can handle myself!" He said Angrily.

"You are staying here! End of discussion!" she said, grabbing Tabitha.

As they ran out the door Tabitha looked back and gave a strange look at Raki. She turned around and ran up the mountain after Miria.


	10. Death Approaches

**_Authors_********_Note: This was hard to write, I deleted a bunch of stuff because I didn't want to rush things, anyways, the next two chapters are probably going to have monumental plot points, and I want to do it right, so they might take longer. Or shorter, who knows. PM me if you ant to be my beta reader. And as always please review, haven't gotten one in a while._**

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Raki

Clare was in trouble…

Clare was in trouble and Raki was sitting at home doing nothing.

Miria and Tabitha had left just a few minutes earlier, running as fast as they could.

And he was still sitting there… doing nothing…

He stood up, he was no longer the little kid who clung to her side five years ago.

He had grown up, he wasn't sure if he could take down an awakened being but he knew that with his training and his gear he stood a fighting chance.

What kind of man would he be if he let the monster kill his friends, when all the while he could have done something about it?

Was he really just going to sit there and do nothing?

"Hell no…" he growled to himself.

He ran out of the common area and burst into another room.

"Sorry about this Miria…" he said apologetically. He had ran into her room, and he was now reaching under her bed… he knew this was where she kept it.

His hand touched a large duffel bag. He pulled it out and examined it.

It was a charcoal colored bag. It was made with a fine leather and it was fairly big, it had to be after all, to accommodate the large weapons inside.

"I'm not going to just sit here, I have to act…" he said, opening the bag.

He reached inside and pulled _It_ out.

He held it in his hands, when he touched it he felt a strong sense of power but also one of fear.

With his weapon came a myriad of memories. He remembered the feeling of safety and power it brought, but he also remembered the feeling of looking down the barrel of a weapon much like this one. He remembered the lives he had taken with this very weapon. He remembered feeling no remorse for the men he killed.

He looked down at his weapon. His _Rifle_. Well that was one simplification for it, it was much more really.

In his hand was a long black bullpup rifle, the magazine was behind the trigger and the barrel was short. _**(Boring gun stuff coming up, I'm just describing the weapon and how it works for those of you who don't know. I will put an oversimplification at the end in bold.) **_

With the magazine behind the trigger, the user of the weapon was able to have the power and accuracy of a full length barrel, but the easy handling of a short barrel.

Beneath the short barrel was a larger black tube with another trigger attached to it. This tube was actually a grenade launcher.

On the side of his barrel was a small black box with a glass circle on the front, the black box was an IR laser pointer, this meant that it was a laser pointer that could only be seen by someone wearing night vision.

On the top of it he had another black tube with small glass circles inside, this was his scope, with it he could modify the zoom to be equivalent to that of an acog, or to that of a sniper rifle.

On the side of his weapon was a button, at the press of this button his barrel would extend, and the inside of the weapon would change, allowing him to use larger ammunition, one fit for a sniper rifle.

_**(Over simplification) **_His gun had a big tube thingy at the bottom which shot out explodey boom boom grenades, on the side was an invisible laser pointer thingy which could only be seen by _NIGHT VISION_ . On the top he had a scopey scope which could TrAnSfOrM into an ACOG or a sniper scope. And he had a button on the side which turned his weapon into a badass sniper rifle that was more powerful but used different ammo.

He reached into his duffle bag again, he pulled out another weapon, his 8 gauge shotgun.

He smiled when he held it up. If anything could kill a Yoma it was this…

There was no need to explain the weapon, you just point it at whatever, pull the trigger and whatever you were pointing at is usually just not a problem anymore.

He stood up and ran over to the closet, he threw it open and looked inside. At the very back of the closet he saw his black uniform, and beneath it he saw the titanium plating that acted as his armor.

There was a lot that Raki didn't know. For starters he had no Idea who or what he was up against, secondly he didn't know the exact location of his enemy. However, as Raki donned his armor and held his weapon tighter, he understood that one thing was certain…

Something was going to die…

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Miria

Tabitha, Yuma, and Miria gave a new definition to speed as they raced to save their comrades.

Miria ran at the front, Tabitha was close behind her, but Yuma was a bit further back, she was struggling to keep up.

After just a few minutes they ran to the top of a cliff, they looked down and spotted the awakened being.

It held four of their comrades in it's tight grip. Clare was held to the ground, she was still awake. Helen was held up in the air, unconscious, Deneve had her arms and legs wrapped up, she was still awake and Cynthia had it the worst. She had been impaled through the stomach and was being held up in the air unconscious, still losing a lot of blood.

Miria's fists tightened as she saw her comrades in such conditions.

From the top of the cliff Miria heard the awakened being begin to speak. She had the voice of a child.

"It's so weird! I couldn't even sense the four of you coming? I never would have guessed that I had four Claymores hunting me if I hadn't recognized one of your scents!" She giggled.

"It's sooo good to see you again… Clare!" she said looking at Clare, who she was holding so tightly that she was nearly suffocating her.

Clare grunted, as if she were trying to speak up.

"What's wrong Clare? Has my sudden appearance taken your breath away?" she smirked. "Here let me help you…" she said, loosening her grip on Clare.

Clare gasped for air. She could barely breathe under the monsters tight grip.

She glared at the awakened being. "Riful… What are you doing here?" She growled, still under a tight grip.

"_RIFUL?! AS IN RIFUL OF THE WEST?" _Miria thought, looking at Yuma and Tabitha, seeing that they had similar thoughts.

Riful started at Clare with glowing green eyes. "I'm here to talk to Isley… what about? None of your business!" she hissed

"Your eyes…" continued Clare, "Since when were they green?" she said, trying to keep a conversation going with Riful to give others time to find her.

Riful scoffed. "That didn't take very long now did it?" she frowned. "Trust me, I didn't do this. I prefer the way they were before… but that damn man in the weird armour did something to me!" She pouted.

"What man? What did he do Riful?" begged Clare. Continuing to stall Riful.

"Aww… look at you! It's so cute when you pretend like you care!" she said smiling. "I guess I could tell you… It won't be long until you either awaken or die…" she smirked.

Riful began her story, all the while Miria began strategizing with her team.

"I was out hunting with Dauf when all of a sudden I found this man walking in the woods away from Rabona. He had a strange armor on. I approached him with Dauf and before I could even speak he already drew a large sword! I mean how rude!" Continued Riful.

"He told me he knew what I was. SO before he could run off screaming, I decided to take action, I dove after him, but the guy threw this red thing at me! And then the next thing I know, I'm falling face first to the ground!" She whined. "And then I woke up a few hours later and my eyes are green! And some other stuff too I guess…" she moped.

Deneve spoke up. "Like the fact that you are weaker than you used to be?" said Deneve with a calmness in her voice, despite being completely immobilized by the Abyssal of the West.

"I'M NOT WEAKER!" Shouted Riful.

"Actually your movements are much more sluggish than an abyssal's should be…" continued Deneve. "And you hit much weaker too…" she continued. "Your Yoki seems to be scrambled…" explained Deneve. "In this state, I doubt you could take all seven of us in a head on fight… that is why you ambushed us isn't it?" asked Deneve nosily.

Riful's face grimaced. "That's tough talk coming from someone who Is about to be torn apart!" growled Riful. "I'm going to tear you apart limb for limb now!" she hissed, tightening her grip on Deneve's arms and legs, preparing to pull the poor girl apart.

"Apparently, with your Yoki scrambled you can't think straight, so you failed to pay attention to one critical detail…" continued Deneve.

"What's there to pay attention to?" she asked, beginning to pull on Deneve. "I have already subdued all four of you haven't I?" she asked with a smug expression.

Deneve's voice strained, she was being pulled apart, however she spoke to Riful with a grin nonetheless "Well maybe if you actually paid attention you would have noticed that I said all SEVEN of us, not FOUR…" she grinned.

"Huh?" asked Riful.

_WHOOSH_

Like a strike of lightning Miria Appeared from thin air and cut Deneve loose.

"HEY! NO FAIR!" Cried Riful, sending a mass of tendrils at Miria.

After cutting Deneve free Miria grabbed onto her tightly. Just before Riful's Tendrils made contact with Miria and Deneve, Miria used her phantom speed and got herself and Deneve out of harm's way.

"Huh? So you're fast?" asked Riful smugly.

"_Deneve is right…"_ thought Miria. "_She is much weaker than she should be… we might have a chance at winning this fight!" _Deduced Miria.

As Riful was distracted, Tabitha moved in and began attacking the mass of tendrils that held Clare to the ground.

As soon as Tabitha cut through the first bit of tendrils, Clare felt the crushing pressure on her body loosen up. She should have been able to wiggle out of Riful's Iron grip.

However, before Tabitha could cut up the remaining tendrils, another set of them shot up out of the ground at her. Tabitha quickly jumped out of the way, leaving Clare.

As Tabitha jumped away, Riful's tendrils regrew and regained their grip on Clare.

Meanwhile Yuma soared through the air towards Cynthia. Cynthia was only being held up by one thin tendril, which was impaling her.

Yuma easily cut through the tendril and freed Cynthia. As Cynthia fell Yuma dove in to catch her. She succeeded.

Yuma ran to some rocks and gently placed Cynthia down on them, she was still unconscious, but Miria needed her help.

While all this happened Miria and Deneve fought Riful head on, they were trying to distract her, however Miria quickly noted that Riful was focusing primarily on her.

Miria dodged another one of Riful's tendrils. She turned to face Deneve. "Deneve!" she shouted. "Go help Helen, I'll take care of Riful!" she ordered.

"You're gonna fight her alone!?" cried out Deneve.

"Don't worry about me! Just help the others!" responded Miria.

Miria continued to think to herself about the battle."_Riful is much weaker than she should be… whatever that guy did to her must have been serious. Her speed and power seem to be down roughly 55%-65%... however… Her regeneration is still incredibly fast, it only seems to be down roughly 15%-25%... That doesn't make sense… how can everything else be down that far but her regeneration is still doing fine? It doesn't add up… unless…"_

Miria's eyes widened and she gasped as she realized her error. She turned to face Riful who was smirking, she saw Miria's reaction, and knew that Miria was on to her.

It was too late...

Miria turned around. "DENEVE, TABITHA, YUMA! GET BACK!" she cried. But before the others could hear her, Riful took action.

In an instant, Riful's sped up ridiculously fast. In a flash more tendrils rose from the ground and grabbed Miria.

As Miria watched the ground come hurtling to her face at an unbelievable speed, she thought about her mistake.

She had greatly underestimated Riful…

The entire time Riful was faking the severity of her weakness, admittedly she was still moving at a great speed, even for that of an awakened being, but nowhere near as fast as an abyssal one.

It was true that she was weaker, but Riful was clever and she pretended to be even weaker than she actually was. This caused the team to split up, allowing her to take down Miria, who was the ghosts best weapon.

Miria was slammed against the ground, HARD.

Her forehead cracked open, but she remained conscious. She looked on at her team as blood leaked into her eyes.

Behind her she heard a loud indescribable sound, it sounded like an unfathomable amount of pure energy was being released. She turned her head and looked back at Riful, who had entered her fully awakened form, her eyes glowing green.

She heard Deneve cry out, she looked back and saw that the defensive warrior had been stabbed multiple times through her body by Rifuls tendrils.

Just beside her was Yuma. Yuma jumped for Deneve, she began to swipe her sword at Riful's tendrils, but she was grabbed from below by more of them.

"CAPTAIN!" Cried Tabitha. She ran towards Miria. Miria saw her, "NO GET BACK!" shouted Miria.

Tabitha heard her, and she immediately jumped back, barely avoiding more of Riful's tendrils.

Riful gazed down at Tabitha, who stood tall, with her sword raised.

"Huh? Only two left?" smirked Riful smugly.

"_Two?" _thought Miria, she continued to look at Tabitha, but then she saw someone else appear beside her.

It was Cynthia.

Cynthia was still bleeding from her stomach, but was mostly healed.

Cynthia joined her sister, not a hint of fear showed on either of their faces.

Cynthia and Tabitha glanced at each other, then back at Riful.

They both took on a defensive stance.

The two of them bravely and definitely stood alone shoulder to shoulder with their swords raised, prepared to take on one of the most powerful beings alive.

It would have been an epic moment, that would have made any captain proud, had Miria not know that the two of them were about to get their asses handed to them on a silver platter.

"Do You two really think you stand a chance against me?" laughed Riful. "You two must be either really brave or really stupid!" giggled Riful.

"That's okay! I'll try to make this quick!" she smirked.

Riful faced her body towards the two of them, casting a dark shadow over them.

The two of them did not back down.

Riful raised more of her tendril, and pointed them directly at the two of them.

"I guess this is the end for you two!" smiled Riful.

And it sure as shit would have been.

But then, out of seemingly nowhere, a voice spoke up.

"HEY YOU BIG ASS NOODLY BITCH! OVER HERE!" cried out a male voice.

"_Is that… Raki?"_ thought Miria.

She looked over to her left and there she saw him. He was wearing the same armor as that night he fell from the sky.

On his back was one of the weapons that she found in his duffle bag, in reality it was his shotgun, but she didn't know that. In his right hand he was holding the other weapon she found in his bag, his _Rifle._

Miria became worried. There was no way this _human_ no matter how skilled, could stand against Riful for even ten seconds. He was about to be obliterated! He stood no chance against her! He was going to get in the way!

At that moment Riful spoke up. "What did you just call me!?" she screamed, sounding incredibly pissed off.

"OH! You must not have heard me! What I said was…" He cleared his throat loudly. "HEY YOU BIG ASS NOODLY BITCH! OVER HERE!" he screamed.

Everyone who was still awake stared at Raki with wide eyes.

This idiot had just looked at one of the most powerful beings on the planet in the eyes, and called it a big ass noodly bitch.

He was screwed.

"HOW DARE YOU! HOW DARE A PUNY LITTLE HUMAN LIKE YOU SAY THAT TO ME! TO ME! DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM? I AM-"

He cut her off. "Here! Catch!" he yelled out, using his left hand to pull something out of his chest rig.

"WHAT!?" begged Riful.

"I said, HERE CATCH!" he said loudly. As he did this he hurled a small object straight at Rifuls face.

Riful caught it and brought it to her face.

Miria looked at the object he had just thrown. "_Did he throw a knife at an awakened being? No… It looks more like a rock… but…_" She examined it further. "_That is NOT a rock… it kinda looks like…"_

"Did you just throw an avocado at me?" asked Riful clearly confused.

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**(**r̸̢̪̼̯̜̯̫͉̳͙͑̇́į̵̬̰̄̃̓̑̌̎̿͝l̴̰̗͈̭̔ç̵͕̹̜̯̰̥̫̲̈́͜s̸͙̋͋͑̅̂͂̊̕͝l̶̞̥̫̊̃ḭ̷̠̻̥̬̣̀̒ͅp̸̢͎͈͎̃͂̈͝a̴̲̖͕͖͔͎̪̔̆͝**)**

"_Faaaaaaalllllllling…. I'm falling…"_

Something was falling from the sky, and it was on a direct path for the northern lands.

"_Why am I falling? Oh… now I remember…"_

The thing that was falling from the sky had just passed through a cloud, it was going to hit the ground fast.

"_He landed here didn't he? Yes… He did… I know he did…"_

"_What was I doing before this? I think I was dreaming… no… I don't dream. Well, unless I'm with him…" _

_**WHAP!**_

The thing hit the ground hard. Creating a small crater in the ground, kicking up a lot of snow.

"_When I dream I remember… and I want to remember…"_

"_He was here! Yes? Yes he was! Is he near? Yes he is!" _

"_No… He can't be near… He is dead… yes… I watched him die…"_

"_No… no no...but...yes…"_

"_NO! I saved him! Didn't I? I can't remember... did it work?"_

"_It had to work! His scent… It is here!" _

"_It is faint… and it is… different…"_

"_No… he is here… I can feel it!"_

The person who fell from the sky sat up. They turned their head northeast.

"_He is this way…"_

They stood up. And they began to walk northeast.

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Raki

"Did you just throw an avocado at me?" asked Riful clearly confused.

Less than a second later, there was a massive explosion right in front of her face.

"THAT'S AN EXPLODING AVOCADO TO YOU NOODLE LADY!" he yelled proudly.

Everyone stood dumbfounded at Raki. He just made a fruit explode in Riful's face.

When the smoke cleared, Riful stared back at Raki, a large chunk of her face was missing. It began to regenerate slower than usual.

Riful stared at Raki with seething hatred.

"And I got plenty more where that came from!" he shouted, lifting his rifle and pointing it at her face.

Riful screamed, and then charged head on at full speed towards Raki.

About a second after she began her charge, Raki fired his grenade launcher straight at her face, causing yet another explosion. This one slowed her down, buying him time to take cover.

When the smoke cleared, more of Riful's face was missing. She glanced around but couldn't find him. She couldn't sense him because he had no aura, and she couldn't smell him either, Riful knew why, ever since that man threw that thing at her, she had a hard time with her 5 basic senses.

At that moment Tabitha and Cynthia charged in to attack, they swiped for Riful's head but Riful quickly dodged them.

Raki looked back at Riful from behind his cover. He saw Riful begin to attack Cynthia and Tabitha.

He raised his rifle again and aimed it at Riful's head. He opened fire on her, causing small holes to Rip open up throughout her head.

Riful stared at Raki and growled. She faced him head on.

"No escape for you this time human… you may have a good offense but I doubt you could survive this!"

She sent a volley of tendrils his way.

Raki was just a human, there was no way he could dodge these Tendrils. He also knew his armor wouldn't have been much help either, Clare's sword went through it easily.

Clare…

After all he went through to find her he wasn't going to die now. He wouldn't allow it.

He watched the tendrils draw closer.

Raki's eyes widened and his heart rate picked up.

"_I'm going to die…" _he thought.

But then seemingly out of nowhere, something clicked.

The boy felt overwhelmingly different.

He looked on and saw that Riful had slowed down.

"_No… she didn't slow down, I've just sped up…"_

Riful slowed down even more.

Raki quickly ran out of the way of the volley, barely missing one of the Tendrils on his way, which seemed to speed up after he began to move.

Time became normal once again. He looked at Riful whose face was near the ground and only about 15 feet in front of him. Riful stared at him with a look of bewilderment. But she wasn't the only one, every single one of the ghosts had seen him and had a similar look on their faces.

Before she could move again, Raki quickly grabbed his shotgun from off his back, aimed it at her head, and pulled the trigger.

Riful jolted back in shock, not only did she have a large chunk of her face missing, but the person who did it didn't even seem to have a sword, he was using something else. Not only that, but he, a human, had just moved at an incredible speed, similar to that of a claymore.

She lost her concentration, and she loosened her grip on the ghosts she had subdued, who were all now awake.

Seconds later all seven of them surrounded her.

Riful stood up to her full height and looked down on all of them. She regained her composure and began to speak.

"You are a strange bunch I will give you that… and I'm sure if I was at my full power I could have taken down all of you… but right now I doubt I could fight all eight of you… it's a shame really… you could have been of some use to me…" she said smugly.

"Doubt it…" retorted Helen.

"With that I bid you all farewell!" she smiled.

"NOT SO FAST!" cried Miria

But Riful ignored her. Seconds later she shot into the sky and disappeared. Leaving the ghosts with another problem…

Raki looked around, every single one of the ghosts stared at him. Clare stared at him with concern, Miria seemed to be calculating something, Helen and Deneve looked at him with suspicion, Yuma and Cynthia seemed shocked and Tabitha seemed to be thinking hard about something.

Raki began to feel dizzy, something was very wrong with him…

Tabitha spoke up "Captain he-"

"I know what he did…" interrupted Miria.

Tabitha continued "It's just like-"

"We know." interrupted Miria once again.

Raki began to feel incredibly weak.

"_What? What are they talking about?" _he thought to himself.

He fell to his knees. "_I feel like how I did after fighting Miria… but… not nearly as bad…" _He shoved the stock of his rifle into the ground and leaned on it, his head still hung down.

"_Why do I feel so different?" _he thought.

Suddenly he felt an incredible sense of pain in his chest, then the pain spread out all over his body. He felt like he was being crushed and burned alive all at the same time. So much for "not nearly as bad"

"What's going on? What's happening to him!?" asked Clare.

"I don't know!" responded Miria.

The ghosts approached him slowly.

He looked up at them, he couldn't see them, something was in his eyes. The pain was incredible, he wanted to scream but he found it too difficult.

He strained himself and all he could do was mutter two raspy words. "Help…..Me…." he begged.

Suddenly the pain grew even worse, he was in complete agony, he couldn't move or cry out, any movement caused even more pain.

But then almost as suddenly as it came on, the pain went away.

He took in a deep breath, he looked back up and saw that the others had all drawn their weapons at him.

"Kid…" Began Helen. "What the hell happened to you?"

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Clare

"NOT SO FAST!" cried Miria.

Riful ignored her and seconds later she shot into the sky and disappeared.

However, even though Riful left, there was still another threat to be addressed.

He was standing in the center of all of them, he had his head down and he was not moving.

Something was going on with Raki, just a few moments earlier he had moved at an incredible speed in order to dodge Riful. And now he was… bleeding?

"_Had he been hit? I didn't see him get hit…" _Thought Clare

He began to look around at all of them.

What was happening with him? Was he a Yoma? If he was they would have detected it. And besides, how could he be when he was currently bleeding red blood.

Another thing… How was he bleeding? He hadn't been hit at all during the fight. Perhaps it was an illusion? Perhaps he really was a Yoma!

Clare began to feel distressed, He couldn't be a Yoma, it made no sense, no it had to be something else. Perhaps he was like them? A hybrid. But that also made no sense, hybrids had aura's and no matter how good they were at suppressing it. If he was a hybrid they would have been able to sense it.

If he wasn't a human they had no idea what he was.

Clare kept a straight face despite the thousands of questions burning in her mind.

Suddenly Raki fell to his knees, and the bleeding on his face became even worse.

The ghosts quickly surrounded him.

"What's going on? What's happening to him!?" Asked Clare, looking at Miria.

"I don't know!" Responded Miria.

Then all of a sudden, the bleeding intensified and his entire body began to shake.

"What the hell!?" someone said.

Raki looked up at Clare, blood began to fall out of his closed eyes and nose.

He opened his eyes. She gasped, his eyes had become a light blue color.

"Help… Me…" he rasped.

Upon seeing his eyes the ghosts instinctively drew their swords.

Suddenly the shaking ceased, the blood flow died down, then it disappeared completely, leaving one injured Raki and seven confused, freaked out and suspicious Claymores.

He looked back up at them. All was quiet. His eyes had become their original color.

Helen was the first to break the silence. "Kid… What the hell happened to you?"

After a long pause Raki responded. "I… I don't know…"

"AGGGHHH! ENOUGH WITH THE I DON'T KNOW BULLSHIT!" she responded. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!? WHAT ARE YOU!? HOW DID YOU DO THAT!?" She yelled.

"Helen calm down!" Ordered Miria.

"CALM DOWN!? HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO CALM DOWN WHEN THIS GUY GETS TO FALL FROM FUCKING SPACE, MOVE AT CRAZY SPEEDS, HAVE BLUE FUCKING EYES, AND ALL THE WHILE YOU GUYS WONT TELL US JACK SHIT!" Cried Helen.

"Wait what?" said Raki.

"Helen's right! Enough with the hiding, we deserve answers!" said Deneve looking at Miria.

"I had blue eyes?" he asked, but his question went unanswered.

"We want the truth kid! Just what have you been hiding from us!?" Shot Helen.

Raki looked back at them, blood still covered his eyes, he wiped it off, he looked back at Miria. She looked somewhat distressed, finally she nodded her head. "Tell them Raki…" she said. "Tell them everything…"

So he did…

He spoke in a raspy voice, he told them everything important that happened to him over the past five years. He told them about the other world, which they were all shocked to hear about. He told them about the war, he told them about his recruitment into special forces, and lastly he began to tell them about his death.

"And then… just a few months ago… something happened to me… something I can't explain… but it's where my memory cuts out…"

"What happened?" asked Clare, sounding more concerned.

"I was on a mission, I had to lead some men into battle, we had to capture a compound. But everything went wrong." He continued.

"We were outnumbered. So I did something stupid. I snuck into the compound alone, caused a diversion, opened fire on the enemy from behind, and I got my men home safely…" he said.

"But what about you?" asked Clare.

There was a pause.

"I didn't make it back…" he said gloomily

"What do you mean?" asked Cynthia.

"As I was running out, I was attacked by one other man… Normally it wouldn't have been a problem, but this guy… something was different about him…" he continued.

"We fought… and he pinned me down…" he said hesitantly.

"And then he…" he shuddered. His voice began to break.

"I don't… I don't remember..." he lied

Another long pause.

"Bullshit… you're lying…" said Helen.

"He's not lying…" said Tabitha backing up his story.

"And how would you know!?" retorted Helen.

"Because I was there. I went into his memories, I saw it, he really doesn't remember ." responded Tabitha. "We were about to find out, we had to leave early…"

"How did you even do that? I've never heard of someone going into memories, especially those of a human." spoke Deneve.

"We gave him a bit of our blood, which gave him a temporary aura… allowing me to see his memories…" explained Tabitha.

Clare felt angry, not only was she kept in the dark about his recruitment into special forces, but they hadn't even bothered to tell her about them going into his memories.

Clare glared at Miria and Tabitha. "You did all this, and you didn't tell me…" she bellowed.

"Hey you're not the only one!" said Helen.

Miria and Tabitha looked down with guilt.

"When did you do this?" asked Clare.

After a long pause Miria spoke up. "After you all left…" she said with shame.

The others all stared at her with disbelief. Helen spoke up, "You put all of us in danger so that you could do what? Spy on this kids memories? What the hell Miria!? What's gotten into you!?"

"Look i'm sorry… I didn't know that it was going to be Riful! It was selfish I know, but we needed answers. And I'm hoping that we at least got some kind of information, right?" she said looking at Raki and Tabitha.

Raki spoke up with his head low. "No… nothing that I didn't already know…" he said sadly.

Tabitha spoke up before anyone else could. "That's not true!" she blurted out. "We did learn something Raki, don't you remember?"

Raki looked up at her.

"That Catalyst thing, don't you remember!" she continued.

"Yea? So what?" said Raki.

"They said it came from our world, so that means that maybe the organization created it…" said Tabitha.

"I doubt it…" said Raki "If the organization made it then they probably would have made more, but the catalyst is one of a kind." explained Raki.

"Wait wait wait… slow down! What's the Catalyst?" asked Miria.

"It's some kind of object with immense power. My commanders were looking for it, they said it could help win the war. But other than that, I don't know anything." explained Raki.

"The organization must have created it…" said Cynthia. "Who else could have!" she said.

"No, I don't think they have the technology to create something like this…" said Miria. "The organization primarily works with things like Yoki, things that can be considered supernatural. If this object was in their possession it must be natural…" explained Miria.

Miria continued "Look, we can't just jump to conclu-" Tabitha cut her off.

"Wait, stop! There is something coming!" she said sounding a tad bit freaked out.

"What is it?" Asked Yuma.

"It's an awakened being! And it's powerful, more powerful than Riful!" responded Tabitha. "And it's heading here… fast!" she said sounding more panicked.

"Could it be Isley?" asked Miria.

"No it's female…" said Tabitha.

"Okay everyone, we can't risk letting it find our home, let's all stick together but move to a secondary hideout, it shouldn't be able to detect us." said Miria.

"Wait, what if it picks up our scent from our stash!" said Helen. "Shouldn't we like… I dunno… hide this stuff!"

"We don't have time!" Said Tabitha. "Tabitha is right." said Miria. "Let's move, the best we can do is hope it doesn't find our stash!" said Miria.

"We're screwed…" said Deneve quietly.

And just like that, all eight of them ran as fast as they could in the direction of the secondary hideout, with Clare and Cynthia carrying Raki.

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**(**r̸̢̪̼̯̜̯̫͉̳͙͑̇́į̵̬̰̄̃̓̑̌̎̿͝l̴̰̗͈̭̔ç̵͕̹̜̯̰̥̫̲̈́͜s̸͙̋͋͑̅̂͂̊̕͝l̶̞̥̫̊̃ḭ̷̠̻̥̬̣̀̒ͅa̴̲̖͕͖͔͎̪̔̆͝p̸̢͎͈͎̃͂̈͝**)**

"_There are eight…"_

"_One is a monster… yes… I must kill her…"_

"_No… Not if I don't need to….."_

"_Hmm…"_

"_The other seven… one of them smells familiar… perhaps I have seen her before…"_

"_No… no… I haven't…."_

"_Hmmmm…. Perhaps when I was just a young worm… but never as a butterfly"_

"_No...STUPID… worms don't become butterflies…"_

"_Maybe they become moths… NO! STUPID! FOCUS!"_

"_No… her scent… I have smelled her scent… yes, smells like him…"_

"_Maybe… HE IS HER...no… that wouldn't make sense…"_

"_Hmmm… the big one just flew away! And… what's this… the eight is bleeding...it feels like…"_

"_ITS HIM!"_

"_I must hurry now!"_

"_Wait… no… it just went away…"_

"_Did he die again!? No… he doesn't smell dead. But… he is… DYING!"_

"_He can't die… I want to dream again…He needs help… and he definitely would like my help…"_

"_No… he might be mad at me for deserting… no… he deserted first… yes… I must come to him…so I can remember again before my dreams also forget…"_

Priscilla ran as fast as she could towards the seven ghosts.


	11. Nothing Else Matters

_**AuthorsNote:**____**I **__**apologize**__** in advance. When my friend/Beta reader read this he just shook his head and said "I love your writing and your story... but seriously... fuck you...and fuck (Name redacted)" Anyways, sadness ahead.**_

_**Also, the next chapter is probably going to be huge. If this were a TV show the next chapter would be considered the season finale. Also, since school is going to start right when I release it, I am going to have a lot less time to write this stuff, so it might be a little bit until it's updated.**_

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Miria

"It's following us!" said Tabitha.

"How? It can't detect our Yoki!" responded Helen.

"It must have picked up out scent…" explained Miria.

"Not good…" said Cynthia.

"What do we do Miria? We're gonna have to fight it!" said Tabitha.

Miria was silent for a second as the ghosts continued running at inhuman speeds.

"Start heading for the clearing!" said Miria.

"The clearing? Why?" asked Yuma.

"We have been training their for just about five years. We know the lay of the land better than anyone else, it has lots of cover and we need to use it to our advantage." explained Miria.

The Ghosts began running towards the clearing.

"How close is it?" asked Miria to Tabitha.

"CLOSE! It's gonna catch up in just a few minutes!" said Tabitha.

"Keep going, we're almost there just don't stop!" commanded Miria.

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Priscilla

"_He runs so slow…"_

"_Why is he running? He knows it's just me right?"_

"_No he doesn't, he doesn't know about me yet does he?"_

"_Maybe I shouldn't reveal myself… He might get mad at me for keeping secrets…"_

"_No… He doesn't get mad at me… He promised me… and even if he was…"_

"_It's not like he could do much…"_

"_Yes… I will keep following him… after all, he won't and can't stop me."_

"_His friends… they are warriors…"_

"_They don't like me… maybe I should kill them… how dare they take my memory away from me…"_

"_No… He would be mad if I did that…"_

"_He is a complicated creature…"_

"_I won't kill them, it's not like they could kill me anyways…"_

"_Well… so long as he says not to… If he says not to I will just hurt them instead..."_

"_Otherwise… I kill them… "_

"_Oh… they stopped… I'll go talk to him then… Maybe he will come with me…"_

"_If he doesn't… I will find a way…"_

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Raki

The ghost's came to a stop, Clare set Raki down.

"We need to prepare!" said Miria. "Helen, Deneve, and Cynthia I want you two to stand behind these boulders and get ready to ambush the enemy, if it's going off of smell it shouldn't be able to find our exact location." Explained Miria.

"Tabitha, Yuma, and I will bait and distract it." said Miria.

She looked at Raki, "Raki, Whatever that gun thing is, I need you to use it again." Ordered Miria.

"Sure thing!" responded Raki.

"Can you do it from higher up? Like from the top of that huge tree?" she asked pointing to the enormous tree that stood tall to the east of the clearing.

"Yes I can, but how will I get up there?" He asked.

"I was about to get to that." She said looking at Clare.

"I need you to get him to the top of that tree, and I also need you to watch out for him, his advantage is that the awakened being won't know where he is and won't understand how it is getting hit, but if it does somehow find out, I want you to get him out of there as fast as you can!" explained Miria.

"Got it!" responded Clare.

"Good, everyone take your positions, the awakened being is almost here!" ordered Miria.

Clare grabbed Raki.

"Hold on tight." she said.

In a flash she jumped from branch to branch and finally reached a branch big enough for Raki to stand on that was high enough for him to see the battlefield.

"Don't worry I will be close by! Just do your thing." said Clare.

"You too Clare, just don't die!" said Raki

There was a pause.

"You too Raki, I don't know what I'd do if you were gone…" she said just before leaping off of the branch to another tree that was much lower.

Raki thought for a moment about what she had just said.

Over the past five years he had only survived because he wanted to see her again, he had drug himself through hell just so he could keep his promise to her.

He just wanted to see her one last time…

He didn't know if she would even take him back, he feared that she would hate him for what he had become.

If she had truly rejected him, then he probably wouldn't have lived for much longer.

All he needed was to see her one last time.

And luckily she had found her, and she didn't hate him, and she let him stay.

He had got a lot more than what he had wished for.

He truly didn't know how he would live on if she was taken away from him.

He prayed it would never come to that.

He looked down at the others, they hurried to their positions, from this angle he couldn't see Helen, Deneve, or Cynthia.

Here they all were, preparing to face off against their most powerful opponent yet.

He said a silent prayer that they would all survive.

"It's here…" he heard Clare whisper loudly from below him.

He looked down at her, she had her Claymore drawn and she was watching the others closely.

"Where?" he asked.

"I can't find it's exact location…" she said, not taking her eyes off of her team.

Raki took a deep breath and lifted his rifle, he pressed the button on the side that turned it into a sniper rifle. He felt the inside of the gun click a few times, then the stock and barrel of the weapon extended. He looked down the scope which had zoomed in a lot, he looked down and scanned the treeline with his scope.

"Raki…" Clare whispered.

He looked down at her.

"I will be right back I promise, I'm just going to look around the trees for it, I will be back soon, stay safe." she said.

Raki nodded.

And just like that she hopped away, moving from tree to tree.

Raki looked back down his scope.

"Dammit, where is it!?" he said to himself.

"Ra-ki?" said a familiar voice from behind him.

He spun around quickly only to be left face to face with a little girl, with brown eyes and dark brown hair, wearing the black armor of a special forces soldier.

"Pri-Priscilla?!" he stammered, not believing his eyes.

"You-You're the awakened being!?" he said in utter disbelief.

Priscilla's face did not change, she still stood on top of the thick branch.

She began to approach Raki.

"Priscilla what are you doing here?! You need to leave! These people are Claymores! They'll try to kill you!" hissed Raki.

Priscilla cocked her head to the side. She did not speak. She continued to plant one foot in front of the other, coming closer and closer to Raki.

Raki began to panic. He promised Priscilla that he would protect her, but that was before he found out she was an awakened being.

"Priscilla please! You need to leave! They are suspicious of me enough as it is, if they found out that I protected you then they would…" he paused

She stopped walking "They would what?" asked Priscilla.

"Please just go…" plead Raki.

There was a long pause.

"No…" said Priscilla at last. "I will not leave you again. I need you!" she said.

Priscilla was trying to make it seem like she had bonded with him, and in truth they did a little, but the real reason Priscilla needed Raki was not because she missed him or even liked him, but because his scent seemed to help her remember her time as a human.

It was almost like he was slowly making her more human, and for whatever reason she wanted it.

"Priscilla, I'm sorry, but these people are going to try and kill you!" plead Raki.

"You and I know that they can't." responded Priscilla.

There was a pause.

He turned his head to the side, feeling a small sting behind his eyes. "Priscilla… if you try to hurt them…" He looked back at her. "Then you know I will have to stop you…" he said with his voice breaking.

Priscilla stared at him, she seemed to be contemplating something.

They both continued to stare at each other, neither of them moved or said a word.

Then suddenly out of nowhere Raki was hit by something from his side. He began to fly off of the tree.

He opened his eyes and saw that Clare had grabbed him and was carrying him off the tree.

They hit the ground, Clare looked down at Raki.

"Are you okay!? That was an awakened being, did she hurt you?" asked Clare.

"I'm fine but…" he said looking up at where he had just been. He saw Priscilla jump down and land a good distance behind Clare.

Clare followed his gaze and saw her. "It's her…" Bellowed Clare.

She dropped Raki. "After all this time…" she hissed.

Raki sat up. "Clare what's going on? Are you okay!?" asked Raki, as Clare began to shake violently.

She ignored him. "Priscilla…" growled Clare, approaching Priscilla, her bones began to crack.

"And just who are you?" asked Priscilla.

Raki moved to the side and got a look at Clare's face. Her eyes were golden, her teeth were sharp, veins protruded from her face, saliva dripped from her mouth, and her arms were shaking.

She had changed her form so fast upon seeing Priscilla

"It's strange… You have a peculiar scent on you. It is very strong… much stronger than the one on him. But I feel and remember nothing from you…" Said Priscilla.

"I guess that leaves me with one option…" she said, glancing at Raki.

Miria, Tabitha, and Yuma Ran over near Clare quickly.

"CLARE WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? You need to stick to the plan!" Said Miria.

Clare mumbled something

"What?" asked Miria.

Clare raised her head. "GUAAAHH FUCK YOUR PLAN!" She screamed, an instant later she charged down Priscilla, swing her sword wildly.

Priscilla dodged all of her attacks with ease, maintaining her emotionless composure.

Clare took wild swing after swing at Priscilla, not hitting her at all.

Priscilla grabbed Clare's sword arm and whipped her around throwing her back at the others.

Priscilla continued to stare at Clare. "You are very weak right now, you know you can never beat me…" she smirked.

At this Clare stood up and began to releaser her Yoki, quickly approaching her limit. A circle of blue energy surrounded her.

"CLARE WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" asked Raki.

"You know, I really wanted to stay and help Miria destroy the organization, and maybe even stay with you too Raki…" spoke Clare.

"Clare what do you mean!?" asked Raki.

"I'm sorry… but I'm giving up my humanity…" said Clare.

Raki felt his heart drop. "CLARE YOU CAN'T! What about the rest of us? What about me? What about us? How can you just do that! Does none of this matter to you!?" he yelled

Clare continued to stare Priscilla down. "The only thing that has ever mattered in my life… is killing her… she is my only reason for living… nothing else matters…nothing"

Raki felt like he had just been shot in the heart.

Seconds later there was a violent explosion of Yoki, the light from the surrounding energy was blinding. But Raki looked on and saw her, Clare had awakened her arms and her legs.

"No…" he gasped.

Clare charged at Priscilla with lightning fast movements, releasing more and more Yoki. At the very end, just before she hit Priscilla, something snapped and she was reverted to human.

"What!?" she gasped freezing up right in front of Priscilla.

She was met with a swift kick from Priscilla, sending her flying back.

Clare landed and lifted her sword, she released her Yoki again, attempting to awaken again.

Just before she did however, she reverted back.

"Huh, this one can't awaken at all…" said Priscilla.

"Since you won't awaken, that doesn't leave me a whole lot of options…" said Priscilla.

She extended her fingers and stabbed them through Clare, slamming her to the ground.

The others, including Deneve and Helen, charged in, only to be met with another one of Priscilla's fingers acting as a blade, cutting across their Achilles tendons.

They fell to the ground stunned, she was so fast that even Miria couldn't see it. They immediately began to heal their legs

All of them were incapacitated or pinned down except Raki, who was still on his knees, shellshocked from what Clare had just done.

Priscilla dragged Clare closer to her, tossing Clare's sword along the way. "I guess you just have to die…" said Priscilla.

Clare kicked and yelled but to no avail, Priscilla was too strong.

Priscilla lifted her other arm and pointed her fingers at Clare's head. "Goodbye…" she said, preparing to extend her fingers and finish Clare.

But suddenly she was stopped.

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Raki

Raki appeared out of nowhere and grabbed her arm.

"Priscilla! Please stop! You are better than this! This isn't you!" he cried, wrapping his other arm around her.

Clare stopped what she was doing and stared at Raki. Still bleeding, and with a look of confusion, anger, and betrayal she asked. "You...know...Priscilla?"

Raki ignored her, he was trying to save her life.

"Priscilla please! Don't kill Clare! She did nothing to deserve it! She has been good to everyone she meets! Please! Don't kill her!" he begged.

Priscilla paused, she looked at Raki, then back down at Clare. She thought for a moment. And then she collapsed.

She began to cry and she loosened her grip on Clare, but she didn't release her.

Priscilla was on her knees sobbing. Raki took a step towards her, cautiously. He had so much racing through his mind, but he knew he needed to deal with this problem first.

"Priscilla?" he spoke.

In a flash she wrapped her free hand around him. "Raki… I'm so sorry!" she sobbed.

"It's...It's okay… please, can you just let Clare go?" He begged.

"I don't want her to hurt you or me again!" cried Priscilla.

"She won't, please, just let her go…" he said.

Priscilla nodded her head and released Clare.

Clare struggled to get to her feet, but she succeeded. She began to march towards Priscilla, but then after a few steps she collapsed. She was bleeding a lot.

Raki ran over to her. He put his arms on her shoulders. "Clare… are you okay?" he asked.

**(WHAP)**

Clare shoved Raki, knocking him a few feet back. He sat up and looked at her.

Clare was shaking with rage. "Don't touch me…" she growled.

"Clare?" said Raki, getting up.

"DON'T YOU EVER TOUCH ME!" She yelled.

"Clare…" he repeated.

"How do you know Priscilla!" she begged, with tears entering her eyes. "HOW DO YOU KNOW HER!?"

Raki hesitated, but then he told her the truth. "She was my comrade when I was in that war… We fought together and looked out for each other…"

"How could you Raki...HOW COULD YOU!?" she cried.

"HOW COULD YOU ALLY YOURSELF WITH… WITH _HER!" _She Sobbed.

Raki spoke up "Clare I didn't know she was a-" he was interrupted.

"BULLSHIT!" She shouted. "YOU'RE A TRAITOR RAKI!"

Raki felt each word hit him like a knife through the heart. "Clare… I didn't-" she interrupted him.

"YOU'RE USELESS! YOU HAVE DONE NOTHING FOR ME! YOU HAVE ONLY SLOWED ME DOWN! AND NOW YOU GO AND DO THIS!"

Raki flinched at her words.

"YOU KNOW WHAT, FUCK YOU RAKI! FUCK YOU!" she screamed.

Raki felt his own eyes begin to sting.

"How could you...HOW COULD YOU!?" she sobbed.

Raki's hands clenched into fists. "How could I? HOW COULD I?! HOW COULD _YOU_ CLARE!? I AT LEAST CAN SAY THAT I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT I WAS DOING, I CAN AT LEAST SAY I NEVER MEANT TO HURT YOU! BUT WHAT ABOUT YOU HUH? YOU TRIED TO AWAKEN!? YOU WERE SO HELL BENT ON YOUR PETTY REVENGE STORY THAT YOU WERE GOING TO LEAVE ALL OF US BEHIND TO CLEAN UP THE MESS!" he cried.

"Did you even once think about how that would make us feel? What that would do to the people you left behind?" he asked.

Clare felt his words, and she felt a hint of guilt.

Raki looked up to the sky. "You know… I walked through hell!" he half laughed half cried. He looked back at her. "I walked through hell and survived what no other human being could ever survive, all so I could find you and keep that stupid promise. And I would do it all again!" he sobbed.

"But you!" he said pointing a finger at her. "You never gave a rat's ass about me… YOU NEVER GAVE A SHIT ABOUT ME! Because that's just how you are, YOU JUST DON'T GIVE A SHIT! YOU DON'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT ANYTHING OR ANYONE!"

"I would give up my life just to make you happy, but you would never do the same for anyone."

Clare, who was already an emotional wreck, felt even more hurt and angry at his words.

Raki continued "You don't care what happens to me or the rest of us… so long as you can just keep going! YOU NEVER CARED ABOUT ME! YOU WOULD DO NOTHING FOR ME, YET I WOULD WALK THROUGH HELL AND BACK JUST TO SEE YOU!" he screamed.

Clare shot up to her feet and got in his face.

"I TOOK CARE OF YOU, I TOOK YOU IN WHEN NO ONE ELSE WOULD! I FED YOU AND PROTECTED YOU! DON'T YOU EVER SAY THAT I NEVER CARED ABOUT YOU. YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE ANGRY! YOU ARE A TRAITOR!" She screamed.

"OH YEA YOU TOOK REAL GOOD CARE OF ME! THAT'S WHY I GOT CAPTURED BY SLAVERS AND SENT TO ANOTHER FUCKING PLANET! THAT'S WHY I GOT TO WATCH MY FRIENDS DIE! THAT'S WHY I NEARLY DIED EVERY DAY! BECAUSE YOU TOOK SUCH GOOD CARE OF ME!" He roared right back in her face.

Clare stared him down. "You know what Raki… Fine… If you don't like it… then you can leave... you can leave and never come back! You hear me! NEVER COME BACK!" she screamed pushing him away.

Raki felt his heart drop again. He had realized what he and she had just said. He took a step back towards her. "Clare I didn't…" she pushed him back again, this time he fell down.

"Go away Raki…" growled Clare. "I want you to leave… I want you to leave and never come back!"

Raki stood up. Any softness he felt was gone. "Fine… maybe I will!" he turned around and grabbed Priscilla's wrist, lifting her off the ground so she could stand beside him.

He looked back at Clare. "Im taking Priscilla… and I am never coming back!" he shouted. Turning away from Clare.

Clare took a step back, her fist's clenched in rage.

"Raki…" she said.

Raki turned around. "What!" he snapped at her, with a look of hatred on his face.

Clare felt his look in her heart, she wanted to say something, her heart wanted her to take back what she just said, but her mind was an emotional wreck.

"If you are still with her the next time I see her… Don't get in my way...or…" she faded out.

"Or what?" Snapped Raki.

Clare turned around. "DON'T GET IN WAY!" she shouted over her shoulder, tears still flowing from her eyes.

"Whatever!" he said walking away with Priscilla beside him.

Had he been watching Priscilla, he might have been able to notice the small smirk on her face.

Her plan had worked perfectly.

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Clare

The others had already healed themselves up by the time Clare and Raki had finished their fight.

They all watched in shock as the two of them, who had been inseparable just moments before, screamed at one another and abandoned each other.

No one could decide who was right and who was wrong.

All they knew was that Clare was not going to be okay.

Clare walked right past the six of them and went to pick up her sword. She was wiping tears off of her face as she did this.

"What just happened…" asked Cynthia in disbelief.

"Raki just dumped Clare for the awakened bitch…" said Helen with her mouth agape.

Deneve smacked her across the back of the head. "Shut up Helen, that's not what happened, and this isn't the time to joke about it." she scolded her.

Clare picked up her sword and began walking back towards the manor.

"Should we say something?" asked Tabitha.

"Just give her time…" said Miria.

"So… the kid was friends with Priscilla… and he somehow didn't know she was an awakened being... Clare hates Priscilla so much that she tried to awaken when she saw her… Raki got mad at Clare for trying to awaken, and Clare got mad at Raki for being friends with Priscilla…" said Helen, trying to piece everything together.

"Well… he didn't know she was an awakened being…" said Yuma.

"Bullshit! How could he not know!" said Deneve harshly.

"Yea and even though Clare tried to awaken, she didn't know what she was doing, she hated that awakened being so much that it clouded her judgement…" explained Tabitha.

"What?! And that just makes it okay to say, _screw you guys! I'm gonna awaken and leave you all behind! Sayonara!"_ said Helen.

"Will you all be quiet!" barked Miria. "Now is not the time! Clare is distressed, we need to either help her or shut up…" said Miria.

For the next hour the group walked in silence.

At last they entered the manor.

As they walked in Miria spoke up.

"Clare… do you want to talk about what just happened?"

Clare ignored her, she walked straight into her room, she slammed the door and locked it.

She turned around and leaned her back against the door.

She slid all the way down, ending up with her knees sticking up in front of her. She wrapped her arms around her legs and buried her face between her knees.

She began sobbing.

"Raki…" she whispered his name.

The boy she had spent the past five years searching for had allied himself with her mortal enemy.

Deep down, she knew that he didn't know, he had never meant to hurt her, but her mind was on fire. She was overcome with rage, sorrow, and betrayal.

"How could you?" she cried quietly to herself. "How could you!"

After all that time, and after everything she had done for him, he had betrayed her.

She thought about saints day, the words they shared, was it all just a lie?

He had told her that he loved her, but did he really?

"_If he did, he never would have been with Priscilla, if he really did then he would have understood why I almost awakened when I fought Priscilla, he never loved me, he used me, he used me for protection and food…" _she thought to herself.

Deep down she knew none of this was true, but it would take her a while to finally figure that out.

She spent the rest of the night crying alone in her room.

It was not like her to cry, she rarely showed emotion. But in the past 24 hours she found out that her leader, someone she looked up to, had lied to her about Raki, she was attacked by Riful, she found out that Raki had powers and, she had been confronted by her mortal enemy, only to find herself completely weak and powerless compared to her.

And to top it all off She found out that the boy she searched five years for, the boy she loved, had been with Priscilla, Priscilla, the awakened being who took Teresa away from her, the awakened being who didn't even know her name, her mortal enemy, and Raki was with her now.

Everything she believed about him was a lie.

No one could blame her for her breakdown. She had never felt so alone since she lost Teresa.

For the rest of the night Clare shut out the rest of the world, she sat alone in the dark with nothing but her own sorrow.

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Priscilla

Her plan had worked perfectly…

As Priscilla and Raki walked away from the battleground, she reflected on what had just happened.

She had tracked down Raki, who was the key to her memories.

He had a peculiar scent on him. Whenever she slept beside him, as long as she could smell him, small glimpses of her past would enter her dreams.

Only in her dreams could she remember her past, and Raki's scent was the only thing that allowed her to dream.

She knew that she would have to get him all to herself, but how? Those warriors would not give him up.

And if she tried to kill those warriors then Raki would be angry and she wouldn't be able to sleep by him peacefully.

When Raki was upset, he smelled upset, and when he smelled upset it made her dreams upset, they wouldn't show her past, they would only show nightmares.

Priscilla would have to separate Raki from them without making Raki angry at her.

But how?

Her first course of action was to talk to him, it didn't work out to well, that shorthaired bitch took him away.

Her second plan was to instigate an awakening. The warrior would awaken, kill her friends, and then Priscilla would save Raki and it would all work out.

Priscilla taunted the warrior by telling her that she wasn't strong enough.

However this plan failed as well when the woman failed to awaken.

Finally her third plan came into action.

The shorthaired warrior was obviously the woman Raki cared about the most, and that same woman hated Priscilla the most.

Priscilla decided to use this to her advantage, she stabbed the warrior and slowly dragged the woman towards her.

This caused Raki to get up and try to stop her.

She reacted by crying and embracing Raki.

When the warrior saw this she became very angry. Raki and her fought and just like Priscilla planned, they separated bitterly, leaving Raki all to herself.

The two of them continued to walk on and on. Priscilla looked up at Raki, and tears flowed from his eyes.

Her dreams were going to be sad ones tonight.

"Raki… Where are we going?" she asked.

He didn't look at her

"Away from here…" he sniffled.

"What will we do?" she asked.

Raki remained silent.

"I don't know…" he finally responded

"After all this… I have nothing…"

_**Authors note:**____**Sorry... Priscilla is a **__**malevolent**__** little bitch. I wanted to make Clare and Priscilla's fight scene this huge thing, but then I remembered. Everyone hates reading long ass fight scenes, and I suck at writing them, so I shortened it... a lot...**_

_**Also Raki has **__**absolutely**__** no feelings for Priscilla, even though he ran off with her. He only went with her because he was mad at Clare and Clare kicked him out.**_


	12. Phantom Memory

**_Authors Note:_********__I am sorry this took so long. And I am sorry that I said previously that this was going to be the __****__equivalent__**_**_ to a "Season _**__**_Finally_**__**_" Originally it was going to be, but after writing it I felt like it wasn't enough, and that I wanted to do more. So I tried rewriting it... then I tried again... and again... and now I've just decided to release small bits of it at a time. Currently I have most of it written down, but it is rough and I need time to polish it... So yea, writing this last bit has kinda sucked and I don't have as much time ever since school started. Anyways, I'm back, three months later, thank you all for waiting, please review it helps me a lot. Enjoy_**_

"_Clare, are you awake?"_

_The two of them were inside of their shared room within the manor. Both of them lied in their separate beds across the room from each other._

"_Yea." she responded_

_Raki rolled on his side and looked across the room facing her._

"_I have a question…" He said_

"_What is it?" she replied._

"_Do you ever get tired of all this?" he asked._

"_What do you mean?"_

"_I mean, do you ever get tired of all of this? Our whole lives have been hell… both of us are on the run, and it seems like we're getting nowhere. It seems like we are going to spend the rest of our lives hiding here… hiding where the sun doesn't shine and the grass doesn't grow." he stated._

_Clare thought for a moment._

"_I mean, sometimes it just feels like we have nothing." Continued Raki._

"_No Raki… we have something… something no one else has. And it's what keeps me going and keeps me human. Everything else in the world could fall away, but so long as we have this one simple thing then our lives will never lose meaning." she said._

_She looked over at him._

"_We have each other… and that's all that matters…"_

_Raki smiled at her._

"_You're right… Nothing else matters…"_

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The Viper

"_Two and a half months… two and a half goddamn months since I left Rabona… and I am finally here…"_

The Viper approached the village of Hayshen, the closest village to Pieta that still had life.

The village was still up north and because it was summer, almost no snow had fallen.

The Viper thought about why it took him so long to finally arrive.

He had been making good time up until a little after he reached Rabona. He had encountered a very powerful awakened being.

"_What was her name… Riful?"_

He had shot her in the neck with a newly developed technology specially made for encounters with creatures that were powered off of Yoki.

The device was called a Yoki disruptor.

When fired at a powerful Yoki using being, it would burrow inside and begin sending harmful radioactive waves through their bodies, causing the Yoki to concentrate on regeneration, weakening the rest of their powers.

Eventually the disruptor would run out of power, or it would fall out.

But ever since he attacked Riful he had been slowed down by wave after wave of Yoma. Almost like she was sending them after him.

The journey which would have normally taken someone like him roughly 4-5 weeks, now took two and a half months.

He walked on towards the village.

"_Number 47… I will find you… and you WILL tell me where Raki is…"_

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Clare

It was early in the morning, but the sun was blotted out by the dark and wet clouds that loomed overhead.

This far in the north it was hard to find even the smallest remnant of rain but today was warmer, on any other day it would have been a welcome and pleasant relief from the unceasing cold. But today the clouds wept and any sliver of pleasantry was missing.

Two elegant figures appeared deep in the woods, they carried large swords on their backs and wore a dark armor.

One of them held their head lower than the other, while the other seemed to stand tall and walk with a bounce.

The one who stood tall appeared to have said something to the other, causing her to appear angrier.

Shortly afterwards, the one who walked with her head low got a piece of her dark clothing stuck on a tree. Rather than calmly and quietly taking it off of the tree, the violent warrior instead smashed the tree to bits.

"Clare I think you should…"

(BAM)

"Clare you should really…"

(Whoosh)

"Clare I'm pretty sure…"

(CRUNCH)

"Okay… are you done?" asked Helen who was out with Clare looking for food.

Clare stood in front of a completely destroyed tree, with teeny wooden bits scattered across the ground. She was taking quick deep breaths.

"That's just great! Your little temper tantrum probably just scared off every animal within 300 feet of here! Goddamnit! Why do you keep having these stupid fits at the worst times! GOD! There is no way we're gonna find any food near here!"

Clare began to walk away. "Then let's keep walking …" she said coldly.

Helen began to follow her. "Look Clare I get that you're pissed off about Raki leaving you for Priscilla, but-"

Clare stopped dead in her tracks and Helen bumped into her, immediately stopping her sentence.

"Jeez! Don't just stop in the-" Clare cut her off with an intense glare. One that seemed to bellow "_Not another word…"_

Helen pouted "_I don't need to take shit from a 47!"_ she thought to herself.

Helen spoke up again. "HEY, Just because you can't let go of shit that happened two months ago, doesn't mean you can just screw up MY job and make the simple act of getting firewood a Goddamn drama fest!"

Clare whipped back around. "How about you shut your mouth and stop talking about things you know nothing about." snapped Clare, her hair dripping with rainwater.

"Yup, you have been acting like a complete bitch for two months for a completely DIFFERENT reason! DEFINITELY not because of the fact that your boyfriend left you for your sworn enemy. NOPE not at all!" said Helen sarcastically.

Clare sent a death stare straight into Helen's eyes. "He is NOT my boyfriend." she growled. Turning away quickly.

"Not anymore he's not!" Winked Helen.

"AGGHHH!" Shouted Clare as she swung her sword behind her to chop off Helen's annoying head.

Helen anticipated the swing and blocked it easily.

"Look Clare I get it. You're mad, Raki left us, trust me I kinda thought he was ok at times too, but you need to move on! You can't just be angry all the time and leave the rest of us to deal with your bullshit." said Helen.

"You don't get it Helen!" Replied Clare, looking down, her clothes soaking wet.

Helen sighed. "You know what! Fine! Keep being a huge bitch! I'm gonna go get firewood by myself!" said Helen walking away.

She looked over her shoulder back at Clare.

"And maybe when you finally pull your head out of your ass, you can go talk to Cynthia and Miria about this whole thing!" shouted Helen.

"Why should I? They are on his side!" replied Clare.

"No! They are on neither side, they are on the rational side of things! The side that says you are both over dramatic idiots and need to get over yourselves!" said Helen.

Clare watched Helen walk away, not moving a muscle.

Clare began to think to herself… she thought deeply about what Helen had said.

She looked up at the grey sky, her boots stuck in the mud.

"_I don't need help…"_ she thought. "_I have never needed it…"_ She knew these words were untrue, but her mind was blocked by her heart.

After standing in the pouring rain for what seemed like forever, she began to walk deeper into the forest to collect her thoughts.

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Raki

Raki opened his eyes slowly, the light from outside beamed into them, nearly blinding him.

He sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

Last night he had dreamed about her… the one who he was missing.

He took a look around at the dewy cave that he had taken refuge in. It was fairly small, but it managed to give him some kind of shelter, along with storage for most of his stuff.

The cave was located a long distance away from Clare and the others. It was also much closer to Hayshen.

His eyes drifted off to his left.

"_If I were still in the manor…" _he thought. "_She would be right there…" _he said to himself as he gazed to his left.

His memory was so vivid he could almost see her. He reached out his hand slightly, yearning to feel something, anything, any sign of her… but there was none.

He thought like this every morning after he dreamt about her. And lately she had been in his dreams a lot.

He gazed to his right with a sigh.

To his right, just a few feet away, he saw the figure of a girl wrapped up in a blanket, she was facing away from him, and all he could see was the top of her head which was covered in thick dark brown hair.

All he wanted was to see Clare, he wished that it was her who was sleeping to his right, he wished that he could see her thin blonde hair sticking out of the blanket instead of Priscilla's.

Priscilla began to stir, eventually she sat up and looked at Raki.

When he looked at her, something seemed to remind him of Clare. Despite the fact that the two of them were not alike in any way shape or form.

"Raki?" she asked.

"Yes?" He responded.

"You had a good dream last night… so why are you sad?" she asked.

Raki knew that Priscilla could tell if his dreams were bad or good based on his smell, but she could rarely tell how he was feeling when he was awake.

"What makes you think I'm sad?" asked Raki.

"I can see it in your eyes… you are sad…" she responded.

Raki was surprised to hear this, Priscilla had never been good at reading emotion, even when they were comrades in the war.

But lately something had been changing with her… The longer he spent with her the more… _human_… she seemed to be.

Raki had been with Priscilla almost 24/7, and over the past two months she had not eaten anything.

Raki didn't really know if this was a big deal or not, but as far as he could tell, it was a good thing.

"Raki…" Priscilla piped up.

"Do you… miss… your friends?" she asked.

Raki was taken aback by what she had said, he had never heard her sound this..._compassionate_… before.

"I don't know…" he said quietly.

Raki thought about his parting with Clare. She had almost given up her very humanity in order to kill Priscilla.

She would have left Raki alone in the world so that she could kill this little girl. A girl who had also once been a Claymore. A girl who, in the time that Raki knew her, had no eaten a single human. A girl who had saved his life on numerous occasions.

Clare would have left him to die without a second thought.

He was angry, but at the same time… he missed her.

"_Why should I?" _He thought. "_It was all her fault after all!"_

For years she had been his everything. He would have gone to hell and back just to see her.

But she would have left him alone to die so she could kill some random awakened being.

This was Raki's thinking anyway. Clare had never told him why she became a Claymore. Clare never told him about her past. She never told him about Priscilla…

"_Clare had no right to do what she did…" _he thought staring at Priscilla. "_In all the time I have been with her she has never eaten a single human… what could she have possibly done to cause Clare to react like this?"_

His thoughts were interrupted by Priscilla who began approaching him.

She scooted closer to him. She got so close that he could hear her light breathing

"Don't be sad…" she said. She wrapped her arms around him and held him closely. He felt her hot breath on his neck and back.

Raki remained still, keeping his arms by his side. Priscilla had never hugged him since he left with her. With his mouth agape, he slowly lifted his hands, inch by inch, until he was hugging her back. In truth it did make him feel less sad, it reminded him of Clare. Even though Priscilla was a monster, something about her seemed human. Perhaps… even more human than…...

"_No that is not true…"_ snapped Raki in his own head. "_Even if she acts human… I must remember that Priscilla is still a monster…this could all just be manipulation…"_

Raki Gently yet Firmly broke free from Priscilla's embrace and stood up.

Raki looked down at her, she sat there on the ground gazing up at him. Her eyes gently reflected the light from outside the cave.

Raki looked into her eyes, her eyes seemed to be a cage for her true feelings. Behind her eyes he could almost see something inside of her, emotions that wanted to break free, but were trapped, hidden away by her flesh and broken mind.

Raki looked away.

"I'm gonna head to Hayshen for supplies…" he explained. "I want you to stay here, don't move. I will be back. Ok?" he said kindly.

Priscilla stood up, she was still shorter than him. "Promise?" she asked.

"Promise." replied Raki

Raki turned around and walked out of his cave, to be greeted by grey skies and pouring rain.

"_That's just great…"_ he thought. He was so lost in thought that he hadn't even noticed the rain.

"_I guess I could just go tomorrow…"_ thought Raki. "_It's pretty far, I don't want to walk all that way in the rain." _he thought to himself.

He turned back to Priscilla, who had done exactly what he had said, and hadn't moved at all.

"Nevermind…" he said walking back to her. "I can't go yet, it's raining. So I guess I'm staying here." he said.

Priscilla beamed at him.

"_Something is going on with her… she never shows emotions like these…"_ he thought.

He sat down against the wall near the mouth of the cave, carefully watching her. "_I guess I should watch my back…" _he thought.

Suddenly Priscilla walked over to him and sat down beside him. She leaned over and rested her head in his lap. Seconds later she was sound asleep.

Raki just looked down at her, seeing her sleep like this took away some of the tension he had been feeling.

He looked out of the mouth of the cave. His mind wondered about Clare and where she was, how she was, he wondered if she missed him, and if she too yearned for their silence to be broken.

"_No she isn't…"_ he thought to himself. "_She never gave a shit about me…"_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Viper

A crowd gathered around the Viper as he entered town, his strange armor and appearance always got this reaction.

He walked towards the center of town and looked around at the large crowd.

"I'm looking for someone, has there been a group of blonde women in town recently? Likely buying a bulk of supplies?" asked the Viper to the townspeople.

Someone spoke up.

"Y-Yea… maybe… a couple of women came into town a few months ago, they had their hoods up so we couldn't really see their hair. But these women come into town every few months, perhaps they are the ones you are looking for." said an older man.

"Thank you…" said the Viper. "Do you know where they come from?" he asked.

The older man gave a reply. "Well… usually they come from the north, if I didn't know any better I would say they came from Pieta, but… all of the towns north of here have been completely wiped out by Yoma." explained the man.

"Is there anything else you can tell me?" asked the Viper.

Another man piped up. "Well, last time they were in town they were buying a lot of ale. I remember one of them mentioning something about a manor… but they didn't say where." said the man.

"I appreciate your help…" replied the Viper. "But I do need one more thing…" he hissed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Clare

It was late in the evening when Clare arrived at the front of the manor which she shared with her comrades. She had decided to take the long way back.

She quietly opened the door and stepped inside, out of the pouring rain.

She walked into the main living room as rain thumped overhead, she found every single chair in the room empty, all except for two.

"Hello, Clare… would you care to sit down? There is something I've been meaning to discuss with you." said Miria, with Cynthia beside her.

Clare stayed put, she began to speak "If this is about what me and Helen were talking about I'm-" Miria cut her off.

"It's not about that, just please, sit down." said Miria.

Clare did as she was told and took a seat across from Miria.

"What is this about?" she asked crossing her arms.

"It's about your Yoki…" said Miria. "That is what we need to discuss…" explained Miria. Cynthia remained silent.

"What about it?" asked Clare.

"Clare… just a few months ago you nearly awakened, you released an incredible amount of Yoki." said Miria. "You understand that you put all of us at risk by doing so, yes?" asked Miria.

"I understand…" responded Clare begrudgingly. "I have been suppressing it…" she continued.

"Clare… what you did back then…" Miria sighed, and placed her hand on her forehead, trying to think of a better way to have this conversation. "You could have gotten you and everyone else killed!" said Miria, her voice slightly more intense.

"I know that." responded Clare, seemingly without any care at all.

Miria looked annoyed. "If you had stuck to the plan we could have had everything under control." continued Miria. "But you put all of us in danger, because you couldn't handle your emotions." said Miria. Clare sent her a stare after she made her last comment. Miria looked at Cynthia, silently communicating for help.

Cynthia spoke up "You could have gotten us all killed Clare! You could have hurt every single one of us, and then there's the situation with Raki…" she was cut off by Clare.

"Don't say his name…" she glared angrily. "He betrayed us…"

"Clare he didn't." said Cynthia

"HE LEFT US FOR HER!" said Clare, raising her voice.

"No, you kicked him out and he had nowhere else to go." responded Cynthia.

"BECAUSE HE WAS ON HER SIDE BEFORE!" Responded Clare.

"Except he wasn't…" said Miria. "In case you don't remember, he saved your life." reminded Miria.

"He knew what she was! And he allied himself with her!" replied Clare.

"Clare! He didn't know, he told you that, remember?" said Cynthia.

"Bullshit, how could he not have known!" responded Clare.

"He didn't…" said a voice from behind Clare.

She turned around and saw Tabitha leanining in a doorway.

"How long have you been there?" asked Clare.

"Long enough…" responded Tabitha.

"In case you don't remember, I was in his memories, I experienced his life, I knew his thoughts, and I know for a fact that he didn't believe Priscilla was an awakened being…" Stated Tabitha.

"How?" asked Clare sounding annoyed.

"I guess you can say, his mind didn't want to believe it…" responded Tabitha.

"Under regular circumstances he probably would have been suspicious of her, but given the fact that he was under constant stress, and his friends were always dying, it is likely that his mind just wouldn't allow him to believe it. His mind didn't want to let go of the one person he met out there who didn't hate him, and wasn't dead." She explained.

Clare stared at Tabitha, her expression was unreadable. Her mind was a whirlwind of thought.

Miria spoke up again. "Clare… you need to let this go, think about what this is doing to him and how-" Clare cut her off.

"Don't act like you care about him…" she said emotionlessly. "You said it yourself… you need him because you want to use him as a weapon… well guess what. Your weapon is gone now, and there is no changing that." she said, standing up.

She began to walk away. "Never talk to me about this again…" she said walking away to her room.

She closed the door and sat down in her bed. She stared across the room for a long time at the empty bed on the other side.

"Raki…" she whispered his name, for no reason in particular.

She could almost see his phantom, sitting on the other side of the room, with the same stupid smile he always wore whenever she looked across at him.

She thought long and hard about the conversation she just had.

She wanted to see him.

Part of her wanted to forgive him, but whenever she thought about Priscilla her mind was filled with hate and overwhelming rage.

She lied down, and stared up at the ceiling, contemplating everything that happened over the past few months.

"Raki…" she whispered his name again.

She turned on her side and shut her eyes. Slowly she drifted off to sleep, doing her best to clear her mind of these sad thoughts.

That night she dreamt about the one she was missing. She dreamt about saints day, and the sweet words he said when he was blackout drunk.

She was surrounded with a warm feeling of peace…

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Viper

Rain poured down on a lone soldier, climbing a hill.

Dripping noises pounded at the top of his helmet.

Step after step he made his way closer to his destination

His goal.

The Viper had no memory of what came before, he knew nothing, he remembered nothing but one face, and nothing else. He knew no love and no family, all of his memories were taken from him the day he became the Viper.

All he had was a face.

But if he could just complete this one mission, it would change all of that for him...

"_This is it…"_ he thought as he approached an old manor deep in the wilderness.

He looked down at his scanner, it had revealed that there were seven heat signatures within the building.

"_Seven...Just like that blind nun said…" _he thought to himself.

It was so early in the morning that the sun had not risen yet.

He approached the front door…

"_If there really are seven Claymore's in here… I likely wouldn't stand a chance against them with my current supplies…" _he thought to himself. "_I'd better play it safe…"_

He stood in front of it without a hint of fear.

He lifted his right arm and knocked on the door.

_Knock...Knock...Knock…_

**_Sorry for the cliffhanger, it won't be long until the next one, please Review, it gives me inspiration to keep writing. See y'all later..._**


	13. A Bridge Uncrossed

_**Authors**__****__**Note: **__**Ok, two things: One, Sorry for the long wait and the short chapter along with yet ANOTHER cliff hanger. **_

_**Number Two: Thank god, I finally got a few more reviews. **_

_**To address the first one from Qinlongfei; thank you for your honesty, I am kinda glad someone finally said it. When I started this story my full intentions were for it to be dark and gritty, I wanted it to be about a soldier coming home with PTSD and living with his past still haunting him, but then I had people PM'ing me about making it a harem, and to be honest I really don't like Harem's so instead of picking a side I just tried to go in between... and I kinda sucked at it. So I'm gonna stop now, I'm going to just pick one and stick to it. And the Villian has a deeper backstory, I just haven't said anything about it yet.**_

**_To address the second one from Lt.38. Thank you, I kinda lost my "Anime High" so I just kinda got lazy and stopped caring about this story, but because you left this review I got just a little bit more motivated. I'm going to keep this story dark, but don't worry, I'm not going to kill of EVERYONE..._**

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Clare

It was the sound of knocking that woke Clare up.

She sat upright and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. It was still raining outside.

She got up and poked her head outside of her room, which was closest to the front door.

She looked to her left, down the hall towards the living room, she spotted her six comrades, who had also been woken up from the knocking.

"Who the hell is knocking on the door at a time like this…" Grumbled Helen.

Miria spoke up. "I don't like this… something feels off…" she said.

"Is it Raki?" Whispered Yuma.

Clare flinched at the sound of his name. "No…" she said. "He'd know better than to come back at a time like this…" she said coldly.

Clare reached to her right and grabbed her Claymore, which she always kept by the door to her room.

Miria spoke up. "Clare and I will answer it, you five, go grab your Claymores and get ready in case something happens…" she ordered.

The others did as they were told and left to get their weapons.

Clare stepped out of her room and got behind Miria, who had already made her way to the door.

Miria opened it slowly, as the door was partly opened, the silhouette of a man could be seen.

It was hard to make out the details but he appeared to be at least seven feet tall.

Lightning crashed, and it flashed light on the man at the door, giving Clare just enough time to observe his strange armor.

It was similar to Raki's, in the sense that it appeared to be made out of some other material than metal. Except this man's armor was much bulkier, his helmet was larger too. Instead of one large Visor like what Raki had, the man had black glass just over his eyes, and tubes protruded out of the mouth area of his helmet.

Clare's grip tightened on her sword.

Miria opened the door the rest of the way, and the candlelight from inside the manor permeated across the man, revealing him and making him completely visible.

Miria and Clare's eyes widened when they saw him.

The man began to speak in a cold and raspy voice. "I'm looking for someone…" he said. "I believe you may know him…"

Miria and Clare stayed dead silent.

"Do you know the whereabouts of a man named Raki?"

Silence…

"No…" Clare finally spoke up. "We fell out...I haven't seen him in years…" lied Clare.

"Why are you looking for him?" asked Miria.

"He has something…" said the Viper. "Something I want…"

"Are you going to hurt him?" demanded Clare.

"That's none of your concern…" growled the Viper.

Clare's face grew angrier.

"You know...you're worrying a whole lot about someone you had a falling out with…" said the Viper, looking Clare up and down.

"He's not here…" said Miria. "So how about you leave before we make you…" threatened Miria.

"Who? You two and your friends hiding up on the roof there?" he said pointing to the roof where the others were hiding.

Miria did not break eye contact.

After a long moment of silence and tension The Viper finally spoke.

He stared Clare down and leaned in close to her.

Clare could hear his raspy breath.

"I know when someone is lying…" he hissed "And I know how to make them talk…"

Clare remained silent, she just continued to stare him down.

At last The Viper turned around and began to walk off.

"How about you head to Hayshen later…" he spoke "There's something there that you should see..."

The Viper walked on and disappeared into the darkness of the woods.

Miria and Clare did not move.

Suddenly, the other five warriors jumped down from the roof and landed just outside the door.

"WHO THE HELL WAS THAT!" Exclaimed Helen.

"He was looking for Raki…" said Clare.

"That man's armor looked similar to his. Perhaps he was a comrade." said Deneve.

"Based on the way he spoke, I doubt he has anything good planned when he finds Raki." explained Miria.

"We should warn him..." Cautioned Cynthia.

"But none of us know where he is." reminded Helen "And he might still have that… thing with him…"

Clare remained silent.

"He said we should go to Hayshen to see something…" said Miria.

The ghosts all looked at eachother.

"It could be a trap." commented Yuma.

"Maybe… but if he had wanted to trap us he would have done it now, he could have attacked us while our guard was down." explained Miria.

"Still, we could run into trouble there… we should send at least three people…" said Miria. "And the rest of us should also look for Raki."

"He could be anywhere!" whined Helen.

"Then we'd better start looking…" replied Miria.

"I want everyone ready to move out as soon as possible... Clare, Helen, and Cynthia, I want you three to head to Hashen, the rest of us will spread out and look for Raki." said Miria.

"We'd better hurry… I doubt we'll have a lot of time…"

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Priscilla

Priscilla was overcome with a warm sensation, almost as if she were surrounded by some kind of warm fur.

It was a feeling she rarely had. Ever since she awakened she never really felt anything at all.

However, at the moment, she was fast asleep.

As an awakened being, she couldn't dream, but for whatever reason this boy she had found allowed her to.

If she slept beside him, his scent would flow into her as she slept… this allowed her to dream.

Her dreams also seemed to reflect his state of mind: If he was angry, upset or distressed her dreams became nightmares, If he was depressed or sick her dreams would be sad ones, and if he was in a decent mood then occasionally she would dream about her past and remember something.

She had to keep him in a good mood, not because she cared about how he felt, but more because she wanted to remember her past.

Tonight she found herself dreaming about her past, a moment that she needed to remember...

A moment that would change everything for her...

"_I was… a __**warrior**_…"

Priscilla watched herself in her dreams as a spectator, a ghost, visiting forgotten memories as an onlooker.

She watched herself stand alone outside of a fancy Inn in the center of town, wearing the uniform of a warrior.

Suddenly a window at the top of the inn shattered and another warrior flew out holding a little girl.

The warrior turned around and Priscilla saw her face…

And everything went to hell.

The world snapped out of existence and Priscilla was surrounded by blackness.

Suddenly she began to hear a squishing and crunching sound from behind her.

She turned around slowly, nearly frozen with fear.

She looked back and saw her… That warrior that came out of the window… eating her family, devouring them…

Her eyes widened in horror as she screamed. In all of her memories she had never been so afraid, any sense of fear she felt in her entire life was inconsequential compared to what she felt now.

She stared into the warriors hungry eyes, blood dripped down from her lips.

The warrior smiled, in a distorted voice she said "You know… you're just like me…" As she said this an unknown force threw her back towards the wall behind her.

Rather than stop her, like it should have, the stone wall shattered like glass as she flew through it.

On the other side of the wall there was nothing. No grass or dirt or any form of ground. Instead all Priscilla saw was a black void which she began to fall through violently.

Priscilla looked up at her home, which was getting smaller and smaller as she fell, it seemed to be floating in the vast void she found herself surrounded by.

Tears came to her eyes as she remembered the scene of that warrior devouring her parents.

"Teresa…"she growled.

That was her name. Her name was Teresa wasn't it…

"You won't…" she choked out through her sobs.

The house got even smaller.

"You won't get away with this…" she cried.

"This is…"

"UNFORGIVABLE!" screamed Priscilla.

Suddenly she was enveloped in a blindingly bright ball of energy.

Wings sprouted from her back as Priscilla took on her fully awakened form.

She shot up into the air, her home getting closer and closer.

She burst through the floor and entered her living room.

She scanned the room but found no trace of Teresa.

She was gone.

She had escaped her wrath.

"Unforgivable…Unforgivable...Unforgivable…" repeated Priscilla.

Priscilla stomped around her home which had grown greatly in size to compensate for her new height.

She looked down at her dead parents and noticed something peculiar.

"That's so strange mommy…" she whispered looking at her dead mother.

"I don't remember you being that short…"

She reached her hand out to grab her dead mother. As her hand extended she realized that it was purple, and that she had claws…

"Huh?" she whispered, bringing her hand closer to her face so she could inspect it further.

"Oh… how silly of me…" she bellowed.

"I almost forgot that I awakened…" she chuckled.

"Maybe now I can…"

"Kill the one who did this…"

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Raki

Raki opened his eyes slowly, the light from outside once again blinded him. It had also stopped raining.

He glanced up and saw Priscilla standing over him, with an unreadable blank expression on her face.

Raki jumped back slightly in surprise upon seeing her. Something was off about her…

Something was… different…

The light he saw in her eyes earlier, the light that seemed to hint at long lost emotions sealed away, was gone. Replaced by a void of nothingness.

"Pri-Priscilla?" stuttered Raki. "What are you doing?" he asked not moving.

Priscilla continued to stare at him blankly.

Raki did not break eye contact, something was wrong with her, Raki's hair began to stand on end. His heart began to beat faster.

She began to breath heavily.

Raki slowly inched his hand closer and closer to his hip, where his pistol rested.

Priscilla stared at him like she was thinking about mauling him to death. "Priscilla?" he asked once more.

At last Priscilla spoke. "Raki…" she said quietly.

"Yea?" he responded nervously.

"What am I?" she asked, maintaining eye contact.

Raki was at a loss of words. He continued to stare into her eyes.

"_Did she not know she was an awakened being before now?" _he thought. "_Did she just think all the crazy shit she did was just normal?" _

"You are a-" he hesitated.

Priscilla continued to stare him down.

"You are...a soldier…" he tried his best to sound confident in his answer.

Priscilla did not move, it was clear that she did not like this answer.

She glared at Raki for what seemed like an eternity.

"Ok" she said quietly, stepping off to the side.

She walked to the other side of the empty cave and sat down in the darkness.

Raki stood up slowly.

"It uh… it stopped raining…" he said nervously. "And from the looks of it, the sun just came up about an hour ago…" he continued. "I should make that supply run to Hayshen now…" he said backing away.

Priscilla did not respond, she was not even looking at him anymore, she was looking at the wall on the other side of the cave.

"Right, I'm just gonna go do that now…" he trailed off.

He walked backwards out of the cave, he was wearing regular civilian clothes, along with his pistol. If he was heading to Hayshen he wouldn't need anything else, besides, if he brought all that with him the people there would be suspicious of his strange armor.

When he was finally outside he turned around and walked a little faster than normal out of the cave.

He marched on towards Hayshen.

His mind began to think "_Maybe it was just my imagination, but something seemed very wrong with Priscilla… it almost looked like she wanted to…"_

"_NO!" _he shouted to himself in his head "_No she would never, not after everything we went through together..." _he assured himself.

He walked on, he had a long way to go.

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Cynthia

Cynthia, Clare, and Helen continued to walk towards Hayshen. They had been walking for hours.

The road to Hayshen was divided by a river and it was covered by a dense multitude of trees.

Over the past few hours Cynthia had been watching the path on the other side of the river, and she could have sworn that she saw someone walking on the other side. The supposed figure that she saw was a good distance behind them which made it harder to see.

If she couldn't see the figure, then she doubted it could see her.

Whatever it was it also had no aura.

(Smack)

A tree branch slapped against her face, causing her to let out a pained sound.

She looked up and saw that Helen was the culprit, she was holding another tree branch back, waiting to release it into Cynthia's face again.

"Oye! How about you stop sightseeing and pick up the pace a little! You walk faster when your watching where you're going." Chided Helen.

"Sorry… I was just…" she trailed off.

"Just what?" asked Helen.

"…"

"You know what!" started Cynthia. "How about you two keep going, I'll catch up in a minute." she said assuringly.

"Ok, whatever…" responded Helen as she began to walk on with Clare.

Cynthia waited for them to go a decent distance away, then she turned to the other side of the river and ran across it, jumping from rock to rock, until she landed on the other side.

She looked down the path away from Hayshen and she saw a small figure in the distance walking towards her.

She walked closer and saw that the figure appeared to have it's head down. So it didn't see her.

Cynthia got even closer and then she recognized him…

It was Raki.

Cynthia smiled when she saw him, everyone had been looking for him, and what are the odds that he would be heading for Hayshen as well.

No one had seen him for two and a half months since he and Clare….

"_Oh you've gotta be kidding me…"_ she said to herself.

"_What are the odds that he and Clare would be going to the same place at the same time…"_ groaned Cynthia in her head.

This day was going to be Heated and Angry at worst, and extremely uncomfortable at best.

At last Raki looked up from the ground and spotted Cynthia. He stopped dead in his tracks.

Raki and Cynthia were roughly 100 feet away from each other.

Raki looked stunned. His face looked like it was caught between a smile, because he was seeing an old friend, and a look of embarrassment and fear.

Awkward indeed.

The two of them stood there staring at each other until Cynthia finally decided to break the silence.

She began to approach Raki, wearing a small friendly smile to show that she held no resentment towards him.

Raki remained still, with the same look on his face.

She got to within five feet of him. "Raki, where have you been? Some crazy things have happened since you left!" she said sweetly, doing her best to make him feel more comfortable.

Raki spoke up. "Cynthia? What happened? Why are you out here alone?" He asked.

"Some guy came looking for you… his armor looked kinda like yours… he told us to go to Hayshen, and that there was something we needed to see…" she explained.

"WHAT!?" Exclaimed Raki. "Oh no, that's… that's not good!" he said worriedly.

"What? Why? What's going on?" asked Cynthia.

"It means they're looking for me… I deserted them remember! They must be looking for me… they'll probably kill both me and…" Raki cut himself off before he said her name.

Cynthia looked at him. She knew who he was talking about. She began to speak "You know that she's a-" Raki cut her off. "A monster?" he said.

"Yea…" said Cynthia. "I understand that you didn't know before… but you do now… so… why are you still worried about her?" asked Cynthia. "I mean, I wouldn't think that you actually stayed with her right? You guys split up right?" she pried.

Raki spoke up. "Uhh… yea… we split up…" He lied. "I guess the reason I'm worried, is because in all the time I knew her she never really did anything 'Monster-ish' if you know what I mean." He continued. "In all the time I knew her, she never killed a human who she wasn't told to kill. And I don't think she ever ate them…"

"If you were to ask me what she was like back then… I could only say that she seemed… _Human…"_ he finished.

"Raki… that's how they all try to act. She's manipulating you! You have to see through all that." explained Cynthia.

"I know… I understand that… but… she was my… My Comrade…" he said sounding distressed.

"She was also one of our comrades too at some point…" said Cynthia. "But she isn't anymore, we can't just stay stuck in the past…"

There was a long silence.

Raki decided to change the subject. "So why did Miria send you out here alone?" asked Raki.

"Oh I'm not alone…" said Cynthia. "Helen and Clare are a little ways up on the other side of the river."

"CLARE'S HERE?" Half whispered half shouted Raki, sounding incredibly distressed.

"Relax!" assured Cynthia "She's quite far ahead now and she doesn't know you're here."

Raki did not seem any calmer. "Ughh… I knew I should have stayed back! I shouldn't have come out today!" He groaned.

"How come you don't want to see Clare?" asked Cynthia.

"Because! She is all pissed off at me for not knowing something that I couldn't have possibly known AND she tried to awaken without giving a shit about the rest of us all so she could kill some stupid yoma!" exclaimed Raki.

"Raki, I understand that you couldn't have known about Priscilla, but listen to me. That 'Stupid yoma' is the reason Clare became a warrior. Priscilla took everything away from her, the only reason Clare became a warrior was so that she could kill Priscilla." explained Cynthia.

Raki took a step back, feeling a little shocked. "Why?" he asked. "What could Priscilla have done to make Clare do that?" he asked.

"I don't know." said Cynthia. "She never told us why"

"I didn't… I didn't know that-" Raki was cut off by a splashing sound from the river.

Raki looked towards the sound and saw Helen, who had face planted into the water.

"SHIT!" Whispered Raki loudly. "Is Clare with her!?" he asked.

Before Cynthia could respond Raki already ducked off the trail and took cover behind some trees a few meters back.

At last Helen, who was soaking wet, not so gracefully, made her way out of the water and onto land. Where she met Cynthia.

"Hey! What did I tell you about sightseeing! We've been waiting forever! What took you so long!" asked Helen, shaking her arm's to get the water off.

"N-Nothing… Is Clare with you?" asked Cynthia.

"No, she's on the other side of the river waiting." replied Helen.

"So why are you over here?" she asked.

"Well… If you want to know, I thought I saw someone over here." said Cynthia.

"Did you find anyone?" asked Helen.

"Yea… He's right there." she said pointing at Raki who had come out from behind the trees.

Helen turned her head and her eyes widened when she saw him. "OH shit…." Shivered Helen.

Another long silence.

"Were you following us?" she asked slyly.

"NO!" Replied Raki. "I was going to Hayshen for supplies. That's all!"

"Relax! Jeeze, I was just messing with you!" responded Helen casually.

"What the hell are we gonna do about Clare?" asked Cynthia.

"Ooh…" cringed Helen, "This could be a problem…" she said scratching her head. "And what is he doing out here anyways? Does he know about that guy?"

"Yea, Cynthia told me about him…" said Raki. "I came out here for supplies."

"Well if that guy knew you, and wanted to show US something, then it's probably best that you come too." Said Cynthia.

"Clare is NOT going to like that." said Helen. "I don't think she wants to see him."

Raki had a look of pain on his face. He didn't know what Priscilla was to Clare, he understood now why she was so angry at him.

"Well we need to figure something out." said Cynthia.

His anger towards her had melted away. But what about her? Would she understand that he had been fooled by Priscilla? That he truly hadn't known about her?

He was about to find out.

"Hey, you better figure out what you're gonna do fast, because it looks like Clare is about to cross the river!"

Everyone looked across the river and saw a pale blonde figure approach the edge of the water.

"Well ladies!" started Raki. Helen and Cynthia turned to look at him.

He walked backwards as he finished his sentence "It was nice talking to you all, but would you look at the time! It's about that time where I get the fuck away from here!" he said turning around.

"Oh no! Where do you think you're going?" asked Helen as she grabbed Raki by the collar of his shirt.

She spun him around. "YOU are going to STAY HERE and FACE HER like a MAN!"

"THAT IS A TERRIBLE IDEA! SHE IS GOING TO FUCKING KILL ME!" loudly whispered Raki.

"Maybe Raki is right!" said Cynthia, "We should talk to Clare first."

"And when has that ever worked?" asked Helen. "Trust me, she needs to hear it from him…" she explained, tightening her grip on him.

"Helen, please!" plead Raki.

"Sorry kid… but you've gotta fix this, her attitude is kinda making everyone's job harder… Especially mine!" said Helen.

Clare began to make her way across the river.

Raki's racing heartbeat became audible as he desperately tried to break free from Helen's grasp.

"Can't you talk to her!" asked Raki.

"We already tried." replied Helen.

"Well try again!" retorted Raki.

"How about you shut up and start thinking about what you're gonna say." said Helen.

"You mean my last words?" shivered Raki.

"You are more dramatic than Clare." said Helen.

At last Clare jumped from the last rock in the river to the shore.

Clare landed directly in front of Cynthia, she did not see Helen or Raki yet.

"Hey Clare!" waived Helen

Clare glanced to her left and looked right at Helen and Raki.

Her eyes widened immediately upon seeing Raki.

Raki's heart dropped into his stomach, and he could only whisper two words.

"Oh fuck…"


	14. A Message To The Damned

_**Auth**__**ors**__****__**Note: **__**It's been a while... I've had a lot going on and this story was not at the top of my priorities list. I apologize... Please review, or message me for questions. Also, my beta reader hasn't had time to help with my story anymore, so he quit. If any of yall are interested in beta reading (meaning you get to read these stories as I work on them)... PM me.**_

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Priscilla

(a few hours earlier)

Priscilla jolted upright, she had been dreaming, she looked down at her body and saw that she was still in her human form.

Her dream had showed her the past and it brought back memories. Although she didn't remember everything, she remembered enough.

She remembered that she was an awakened being, and that she had awakened while hunting down Teresa, the same Teresa who had devoured her family.

"_Teresa… I will find you…"_ she said to herself seething with rage.

Suddenly Raki began to wake up. He opened his eyes and looked up at her, she looked down at him.

For the most part she ignored whatever it was he was saying, she was too hungry to care. However there was one thing she did want to know…

"Raki… What am I?" she asked. She needed to know if he would tell the truth.

After waiting for what seemed like forever he responded.

"You are a soldier." he told her.

It was not the response she was looking for… but at this point she just didn't care. His usefulness had run out.

She was starving.

She debated whether or not she should eat him.

She decided not to. He HAD taken care of her, so it was her way of saying thank you. But it was the last favor she would ever do for him.

Priscilla made her way to the darker part of the cave so that Raki would feel more inclined to leave.

At last he did.

Soon afterwards, when Raki was nowhere to be seen, she stepped outside.

"_All this time… I have kept myself hidden." _ she thought.

"_I will hide this no more…"_

"_I have been trapped and compressed for too long."_

Priscilla's bones began to crack and her skin began to turn purple.

"_Teresa…"_ she repeated the name in her mind.

"_I will find you…"_ she growled.

Priscilla's body grew taller.

"_And when I do…"_ Wings shot out from her back, and a horn shot out of her forehead.

Priscilla lept out into the sky and flew away, heading immediately for the town she first met Teresa in.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Viper

"So… He was here…"

The Viper held one cold and metallic hand against an old escape pod which had planted itself deep into the ground.

It could only belong to one person…

The Viper climbed inside, he began to look around for one very specific item.

After about a minute of searching the Viper stepped out of the pod. "Ah… so you took it with you… that wasn't very smart, now I can make you come to me." chuckled the Viper.

The Viper had been searching for the handheld radio that was put into every escape pod. As it seemed, Raki had taken the radio when he first left the escape pod along with all his other things.

The Viper took a step back and sat down. He took off his bag and placed it between his feet. He opened it slowly and carefully.

The Viper carefully removed his own long distance radio, which he used to contact his commanders.

He held the radio to his mask and began to speak. "This is Viper, I have important information on the whereabouts of target LS-11…"

After a moment of silence an eager voice came over the radio.

"Have you found him yet?" asked the man on the radio.

"Negative, but I found his escape pod, and I have reason to believe that the people in this area know his whereabouts." Explained The Viper. "But I need a supply drop, Specifically one with explosives, grenades, and mark IV Olympain Armor."

"Roger that, whatever you need, just bring him back here, dead or alive. And be careful, we need his body intact." said the man on the Radio.

"Roger that…" replied The Viper.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Raki & Clare

Dread, that was the only feeling that came to Raki's mind when he saw her.

Clare stared into his eyes, with her own eyes widened.

No one said a word, the wind stopped blowing, every bird in the area stopped singing. The entire world fell quiet and still for one moment.

Helen slowly released her grip on Raki. Cynthia saw this and understood the message.

Helen and Cynthia slowly began to back away, leaving the other duo with the most tense conversation of their lives.

They continued to stare at each other, neither of them said a word. However they both wanted to, each one wanted to say something to the other, but neither of them knew what to say.

After an eternity the silence was broken.

Raki began to speak. "Clare… I-" he started, but was cut off by a cry from Clare, accompanied by a swift right hook to the face.

Clare's punch was hard, and it knocked Raki to the ground, but it didn't knock him out.

Clare stood above him, her breathing was heavy, her fist was still raised, and she had a look of utter rage in her eye.

Raki looked up at Clare with a pained expression. Not because he was physically hurt, but because he realized that he had hurt Clare so bad that she had to lash out at him.

Clare, internally, was a flurry of emotions. Part of her was full of rage and anger at the sight of him. But another part of her was secretly overjoyed to see him. She had missed him...

With shock Clare looked at her own hand which was still closed in a fist. She slowly opened it and brought it down to her side.

She had struck him…

She couldn't even believe it herself.

Raki stood up, they were roughly five feet away from each other.

She stepped closer to him. Every step sending wave after wave of anxiety and disturbance through both of them.

Maybe she should have just walked away, not even acknowledging his existence, but something was pulling her closer, drawing her in.

As Clare got closer, Raki's hair stood on end, he felt chills flow through his body, freezing him to the bone.

As Clare stepped closer she reflected upon everything.

Raki had been forced into slavery after she left him in the forest…

No...back then, she didn't just leave him, she abandoned him…

He was brought to the north and thrown into a cell, left alone to die.

He was brought onto another planet and was forced to fight in a war he didn't belong in. He survived what no one else could, all so he could keep his promise and find HER.

Clare received a small sense of joy from this thought, knowing that he had done all of that for her. It felt good to know that someone cared that much.

However her pleasant thoughts would be cut short as she continued to reflect.

She was now three feet away.

While he was there, in that war, he met Priscilla.

The same Priscilla who had taken everything away from her…. The same Priscilla who killed Teresa.

That very same monster had manipulated and fooled Raki, along with nearly making Clare awaken.

Deep down she knew that Raki was not to blame for believing in Priscilla's humanity…

But….. He left.

Even after finding out that she was a monster he still went with her and allied himself to her.

He knowingly sided with Priscilla…

And that…

Was unforgivable…

Clare stopped dead in her tracks, roughly two feet away from Raki.

Raki looked into her eyes, they seemed to dart around in a confused manner.

Raki knew what she was thinking. Every fiber of his body wanted to say something, to say anything, to somehow put his pride away and get down on his knees and beg for forgiveness. But instead he stood there, not moving a muscle.

Clare's gaze became fixed on Raki, and her look of mixed emotions and confusion suddenly shifted into a look of bitter resentment and disgust.

She spun herself around and began to walk away. Refusing to look back.

There was nothing left to say...

Upon seeing this, Raki's heart became heavy, full of leaden pain and sorrow.

As Clare walked away Raki lifted one hand up, reaching out for her. "Clare wait!" he plead.

Clare stopped and looked halfway over her shoulder.

"Clare… please… I didn't know about her… I didn't know what she was to you...I'm sorry...please…" he managed to choke out. "Please just forgive me…"

Clare faced straight ahead and closed her eyes, memories flashed before her, memories of everything good that happened between them.

Her memory showed her the time when she first met him, how everyone in town had been terrified of her, everyone except for him.

She remembered how he had defended her in Rabona, and how he had stopped her from awakening.

She remembered how he fought Ophelia for her.

She remembered their kiss and their promise.

She remembered finally finding him, and spending time watching over him.

She remembered Saints Day, and his drunken ramblings.

She remembered him rushing in last second and saving her from Riful.

Clare opened her eyes and felt an all too familiar sting from behind them.

After a long pause she looked over her shoulder once more, "You can come with us…" she managed to say.

"To Hayshen…" she finished doing her best to keep an emotionless composure.

She faced forward and began to walk quickly, not wanting anyone to see her face.

Raki felt relieved knowing that she would at least speak to him.

Helen and Cynthia emerged back onto the trail near Raki.

Cynthia smiled at Raki and then hurried to catch up with Clare.

Helen leaned over near Raki and whispered in his ear. "Good job kid… I don't think she hates you…"

Upon hearing this, Raki let out a small smile.

"...as much." Winked Helen.

He quickly turned his head toward her. "As much?" Raki asked worriedly.

Helen just chuckled and began to walk forward.

Raki stayed put for a moment, then he just shook his head and hurried to catch up with Helen, who was still lagging behind the other two.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Raki

The four of them, Clare, Cynthia, Helen, and Raki, were closing in on Hayshen, the distance between getting smaller and smaller.

Clare and Cynthia were taking point, and Helen and Raki lagged behind.

Raki still wasn't sure if he and Clare were on speaking terms, so he stayed back, playing it safe.

_Crunch_

He looked straight at Helen who, to his surprise, had just bitten into an apple.

"Helen?" he asked.

"MmHm?" responded Helen, with part of the apple still in her mouth.

"Where the hell do you keep finding those? I'm almost certain apples don't grow up here." he asked.

Helen swallowed her food, then looked up at him. "That's my secret!" she smiled.

Raki shook his head. "What? Are you blessed by some kind of apple god?" he asked sarcastically.

Suddenly Helen stuck her hand out and stopped Raki from taking another step.

Raki looked forward and saw that he had almost walked right into Clare, who was stopped in the middle of the road, looking at Helen.

"Helen, we are almost in the town, will you please put your hood up." she reprimanded.

"Whatever." she said, pulling her hood over her head.

Before turning back around, Clare spared a small glance at Raki, then she proceeded to turn and face the town.

The Four of them walked into town, carefully.

Every single one of them felt like something was wrong.

Cynthia started. "It's so…"

"So quiet…" Raki finished her sentence.

They walked further into town, passing by buildings that were so quiet they seemed empty. If they hadn't seen the occasional glance from inside the window, they would have thought that the entire town had been abandoned.

"We should head for the center of town" said Cynthia "If anyone's gonna be outside, they would probably be there." she said.

"I wouldn't do that…" said an unrecognized voice from behind them.

The four of them turned around and saw a middle aged man sitting on his porch stairs.

The man had an empty look in his eyes, like he had his soul ripped out. His face looked like that of a recently deceased corpse.

When he talked to them it seemed like he wasn't really looking at them, but looking through them.

"Ever since that man passed through…" he mumbled.

"I'm sorry." said Raki "What happened? Where is everyone? What's at the center of town?" he asked.

The man continued mumbling, Raki could barely make out what he was saying, but at one point it seemed like he was saying something among the lines of "Haven't even cleaned up the mess…"

"We should keep moving…" said Helen.

The four of them began to head for the center of town, passing by building after building.

At last Clare and Cynthia turned the last corner, and they both simultaneously saw the center of town.

Both of their eyes widened at the same time. Cynthia let out a quiet "Oh god…"

"What? What is it?" asked Raki, hurrying to up to the corner so that he could see.

He hurried in front of Clare and Cynthia, and then he stopped dead in his tracks.

Bodies…

The dead bodies of children, women, and men alike littered the ground. Blood stained the stones on the ground, and the walls of surrounding buildings.

The bodies were covered in blood, and filled full of…

"Bullet… Holes…" said Raki.

At least thirty bodies lined the street. All of them with looks of terror and pain etched permanently on their face.

His eyes were wider than anyone else's, his breathing sped up and his heart rate went through the roof.

He had seen this carnage too many times before.

Reality began to flicker. It was happening again.

He quickly stepped off to the side, away from the others. He faced away from the bodies and leaned against the wall of a building.

He was shaking violently.

Clare looked at him and immediately recognized what was happening, she remembered exactly what Deneve said the first time it happened.

Raki's mind flashed images of dead soldiers over and over. Unlike before, he wasn't pulled into his mind, but his vision began to flicker. One moment he was in Hayshen, the next he was standing over the bodies of dead soldiers.

Clare ran over to him.

"Hey it's not real! There's nothing there! Stay with me!"

Raki blinked and jolted back as he was brought back to reality.

He looked to his left and saw that Clare was standing in front of him.

He looked at her arms, he hadn't noticed immediately but she had placed them on his shoulders.

Clare saw him look at her arms, she quickly removed them.

"Are you ok?" she asked.

Raki opened his mouth to speak, "Y-yea I'm fine…"

"What the hell happened here?" asked Helen.

They had all seen their fair share of carnage, but the way that the townspeople were acting, and the way the bodies were laid out… It just seemed so much worse.

"Why would someone do this?" wondered Cynthia.

Her question was rhetorical, but nevertheless she received a response.

"To send a message…" said another unseen voice.

All four of their heads turned to the right, to see a pale, ghostly looking man exiting his home.

"What message? And to who?" asked Raki, fearing that he already knew the answer.

"What's your name kid?" asked the pale man.

"It's Raki…" he responded.

"Hmm…" the man's eyes widened. "Does the phrase LS-11 mean anything to you?" asked the man.

Raki froze up. "LS-11?" he mumbled. LS-11 was the special callsign given to him when he passed special forces selection. Every operator was given a callsign with two letters and any amount of numbers.

Raki slowly and rigidly nodded his head.

"Hmm…" said the ghostly man. You see those two bodies over there? He asked pointing to a woman and a little girl.

"Yea…" replied Raki quietly.

"Well kid…That's my wife and only daughter… And they are dead because of you… them and countless others… that man said he left this same message in every town he passed since Douga. The same message, just for you…"

Raki's heart dropped into his stomach, he froze up, his eyes began to sting. He now understood that countless innocent people lost their lives because of him.

Helen spoke up. "Hey cut it out asshole! This isn't his fault! Stop saying that shit!"

Raki piped up. "What was his message? What did he want?" he pleaded.

The ghostly man sat down, and unsheathed a knife.

"Five words… that's all he said…" mumbled the man, twirling the knife in his hand. "My entire family died for five stupid fucking words…" choked the man, tears rushing to his eyes. "It's the only reason I still live, so I can pass on these five fucking words to you! So that no one else has to die for your sake!" Roared the man

Each word hit Raki like a freight train. "Please sir, what did he say?" Raki begged.

The man held the knife to his own throat, "He wants your cooperation…. Or you life…"

As the man finished his sentence he slid the knife across his throat, killing himself.

The four of them watched on in horror, as the man, who had nothing left, choked on his own blood.

When the man's heart finally stopped beating Raki fell to his knees.

He declared to himself that the death of these innocent people would be avenged, that he would make it right.

Even if it meant dying.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tabitha

The search had been going on for hours, but nobody found any trace of Raki

Since the morning after that man had arrived at their hideout Tabitha and three of her comrades were scouring the north, searching for any sign of the young man but found nothing.

Miria had gone south, closer to Hayshen, Yuma had gone farther north, and Deneve was checking the west, leaving Tabitha with the east.

Tabitha was getting ready to call off her search when she noticed something off in the distance, something was falling… from the sky.

It had to be just a few miles away, but it was falling fast.

She picked up her pace and began heading towards the falling object.

Roughly ten minutes after the object landed she had closed in near it's position.

Her instincts told her to stay quiet, and out of sight.

She detected no aura, but that wouldn't help much if she was facing a human.

She got even closer to where she believed it to have landed, after a long uncanny silence she finally heard something to the left. It sounded like rustling, or shifting.

She moved closer to the noise, maintaining a low profile.

At last, hidden in the tree's she saw a vessel, similar to the "pod" that Raki had come from, but this one was smaller, perhaps a third of the size.

Her entire body laid down, hidden behind branches for cover.

She was about to move closer when she saw that same man from the night before step out from behind the vessel. His armor looked different, it was even bigger than before, she doubted his armor could be penetrated by any standard attack.

How had she not heard him with all that armor on.

What shocked her most was his face, he was holding his helmet in his hands, clearly about to put it on, revealing his entire head.

He was completely bald and his skin was pale and veiny. He had black eyes and blue lips.

He placed the helmet on his head and locked it in place.

Suddenly, his masked face looked straight in her direction.

Shocked, she lightly gasped and quickly moved her right hand back so that she could move her body back, but when her hand landed she heard a snap. She looked down at her hand and saw that she had broken a twig.

Her head quickly jolted back up to look at the Viper, but he had disappeared. She moved her head around quickly and could find no sign of him. She began to stand up when she saw a shadow cast down beside her.

With speed faster than any normal human eye could track she stood up, turned around and unsheathed her sword.

But before she could take her first swing she was swiftly knocked down by a punch to the face.

No ordinary human could have hit her that hard.

She looked up, her vision fuzzy and doubled. She saw the Viper kneeling over her, one hand on her sword arm, and one hand on her throat.

"_How did he move that fast?" _she wondered. "_And why did he not make a noise?"_

"Ya know… I was kinda hoping for the bitch with the chin length hair… but you'll just have to do."

Tabitha had no choice. She had to release her yoki, it was life or death.

With all her power she attempted to throw him off of her arm, but to no avail, his armor weighed an ungodly amount.

He began to squeeze his hand around her throat.

Instantly her airway collapsed and she couldn't breathe.

The Viper maintained his pressure.

With her left hand she tried to rip his arm off of her neck, but it wouldn't budge.

He lifted her into the air, letting go of her right arm, which had already dropped her sword.

Her face began to turn purple from lack of oxygen.

She released more and more yoki, but couldn't get him off.

Her head was pounding, her hearing was starting to vanish.

"_I'm going to die…" _She thought. "_I failed… I failed my comrades, I failed all of them…"_

Her vision began to darken, and she began to lose feeling in her body.

At last, Tabitha went limp, and the Viper dropped her body to the ground.

The Viper kicked her lightly, making sure she wouldn't get back up, he then threw her body over his shoulder and walked off towards Pieta.


End file.
